Dancila Gov’t puts on hold the procedure to include Rosia Montana in UNESCO heritage

The Viorica Dancila cabinet has put on hold the procedure to include Rosia Montana locality in the UNESCO heritage. The application to put the file on hold was made by the Ministry of Culture and sent to the Romanian Ambassador to UNESCO through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Adrian Cioroianu has told G4Media.ro, quoted by hotnews.ro.

The reason behind the decision is that Romania is on trial with arbitration against Gabriel Resources, the main shareholder of Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, which demands USD 4.4 billion damages because the gold mining was blocked.

The decision to include Roşia Montană in the UNESCO heritage was to be made by the World Heritage Committee at its 42nd session during June 29-July 2 in Manama, Bahrain.

“We were very glad when ICOMOS has made public the recommendation to include the site in the heritage. When we delivered the news to Bucharest, we received a directive from the Ministry of Culture, through the Foreign Ministry, to request, on behalf of the Government, to put the file on hold, not to withdraw it, as well as a meeting between a Government delegation and UNESCO. The reason? During the Ciolos cabinet and during the current cabinet, the Finance Ministry and the Economy Ministry did not support the request to include the site on the World Heritage. They say that during the proceedings against Gabriel Resources it is not proper to include Rosia Montana in UNESCO heritage, because it would serve the interests of the lawyers of the adverse party,” Cioroianu said.