Following a mission by the Director of the World Heritage Centre to Poland, the Government of Poland submitted a substantive progress report on the actions taken for the management and preservation of this World Heritage site. This report addressed the following issues:
Considering that major progress had been made in consensus building, planning and concrete actions for the preservation of the site, the Bureau commended the Government of Poland for the decisive actions it had taken to implement the Strategic Governmental Programme for Auschwitz, to implement the Act for the Protection of Former Nazi Extermination Camps and to initiate integrated planning for the surroundings of the Camps of Auschwitz/Birkenau. It requested the Government of Poland to submit a further progress report by 15 April 2000 for examination by the Bureau at its twenty-fourth session. It requested that this report include detailed maps of the camps and their surroundings with a clear indication of the different protection zones and the management mechanisms that apply to them.
On behalf of his Government, the Observer of Poland thanked the members of the Committee, particularly the Delegation of the United States of America, for the interest in the preservation of this site. He also thanked the Director of the World Heritage Centre for his mission to Poland and for his fruitful discussions and advice. He expressed his commitment, in his capacity as Chairperson of the international group of experts, to present by the time of the next reporting, a master plan for the site.