Paris — The "Treasures of Moroccan Traditional Arts" were highlighted at a conference on Tuesday at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, on the sidelines of the 10th session of the General Assembly of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

At the opening of this conference, initiated by the Ministry of Tourism, Handicrafts and Social and Solidarity Economy and the UNESCO Office for the Maghreb, Morocco's Ambassador and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, Samir Addahre, underlined the importance of the Kingdom's efforts to promote the handicrafts sector. These included the adoption of an ambitious strategy for its development by 2030 and the implementation of a program to safeguard endangered crafts-related know-how by passing it on to younger generations, which was the subject of an agreement signed in November 2022 between the Ministry of Tourism, Handicrafts and Social and Solidarity Economy and the UNESCO office in Rabat.

The Moroccan official also noted the large and growing number of craft-related items on the representative list of the 2003 Convention.

As part of this drive, and in support of its handicraft communities, Morocco is giving priority to craft-related applications, such as the Moroccan Caftan application for the 2025 cycle, and the Zellige application currently being prepared for the 2027 cycle.

Morocco is also actively involved in the preparation of multinational candidature files for crafts.

Following the inscription in 2023 of the "Arts, skills and practices associated with metal engraving (gold, silver and copper)" on the Representative List, the Kingdom is continuing to work towards the inscription of other craft skills, such as pisé as part of the "Art and traditions of building with earth" joint dossier piloted by Morocco, and many other elements, such as "basketry" and "the manufacture and practice of the Oud".