For the first time New Zealand is hosting the World Heritage Committee's annual meeting from June 23 to July 2, according to a press release Monday.

The 31st Session will be held in Christchurch and chaired by Tumu te Heuheu, Paramount Chief of Ngati Tuwharetoa, New Zealand's World Heritage representative for the last 10 years.

Over 600 international delegates are expected to attend the meeting.

The Committee will consider new site nomination, sites in danger, site management and protection, and will acknowledge national tentative lists for possible future World Heritage sites.

Forty nominations for new world heritage sites will be debated during this meeting.

Australia is nominating the Sydney Opera House. Japan will forward its sacred Mount Fuji for the list of tentative candidates for heritage status.

The Diaolou (watchtower house) of Kaiping, Guangdong Province, is nominated by China for heritage status.

New Zealand will not be putting forward any sites for nomination but will be submitting a tentative list.

In 1972, UNESCO adopted the World Heritage Convention as a way to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of the world's most outstanding cultural and natural heritage sites.

With 183 member countries and more than 800 sites, it is one of the most widely supported United Nations' conventions.

Source: Xinhua