Zambia, behind Zambia I country, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Colombia, Armenia, Palestine, Kuwait, China, Mauritius, Azerbaijan, Cameroon and Lebanon. Therefore, I declare decision 13.10. Be 18, duly adopted. May I now give the floor to Jamaica, but just for the sake of convenience and for the information of all members, we will give the floor to Jamaica. And thereafter, we will hear, at the request of Jamaica, some music.
And just after the speech of Jamaica and the music we are going to hear, I'm proposing to suspend the sitting for 15 minutes for a reason which I believe is apparent to everybody. Jamaica, please. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Jamaica expresses its sincere thanks for the tremendous support we have received from state parties for the inscription of the reggae music of Jamaica.
We express particular thanks to Cuba and Palestine for their open and gracious support, and we are heartened by the show of camaraderie of many, the many state parties here. and appreciate your love and respect for an element that is the heart and soul of my country. We consider intangible cultural heritage to be of extreme significance in a country's identity, and so in Jamaica we are proud of the fact that this element of reggae music is one in which we often describe as that which we eat, sleep, and breathe. Reggae is no longer only ours. The world has now taken it as their own.
As a long-standing reggae producer myself, I thank UNESCO for this inscription. Jamaicans have long recognized that this element means so much to so many, all around the world. With this inscription, Jamaica is of the view that it will invariably bring even more visibility to the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity and intangible cultural heritage as a whole. The number of reggae music practitioners across the globe grows every day, and as a nation, Jamaica continues to support academic conferences in its jurisdiction, such as the Jamaica Music Conference and the upcoming 6th Biennial Global Reggae Conference.
These conferences include practitioners us. sharing with other reggae stakeholders, students, and the public. The music has also spawned a number of large music festivals across the globe, most notably the Rotterdam Music Festival in Spain, attracting upwards of over 100,000 music lovers and academics each year.
Special notes should also be made of the ongoing digitizing and by monthly updating of the national inventory maintained by the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica. The Jamaica Memory Bank is ongoing. We're also committed to engaging fully local communities' inventories, such as in Waterhouse and Trenchtown, which will be a part of the UNESCO Heritage and Creativity for Sustainable Cities community-based inventories project. We thank UNESCO for this initiative.
Again, colleagues, I reiterate our deepest appreciation for the overwhelming love Jamaica has received for reggae music, which is a testament to its global impact. And therefore, at this time, I fittingly end with the words of reggae icon Bob Marley, one love, one heart. Let's get together.
and feel all right. I now invite you all to sing this song with us. One heart, let's get together and feel alright Hear the children crying, one love Hear the children crying, one heart Sayin' Give thanks and praise to the Lord And I will feel alright Let's get together and feel alright Let them out back