Programmatic Cultural Development Agreementwhich sets the conditions for the overall promotion of the Medieval city of Rhodes, for a new era, for the unique residential complex of the Medieval City, was signed by the Minister of Culture and Sports Lina Mendoni, the Regional Governor of the South Aegean Giorgos Hatzimarkos, the Mayor of Rhodes Antonis Kambouraki and the President of the Organization for the Management and Development of Cultural Resources Nicoletta Divari-Valakou.

After 39 years, it is the second Cultural Development Program Agreement signed for the Protection and Promotion of the Medieval City of Rhodes, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage monument since 1988.

The first Convention was signed on September 28, 1984.

For the complex issue of the management of the Medieval city, long and arduous consultations were required between the contracting parties, in order to formulate the Program Contract of ten years, initially, duration, signed at the Town Hall of Rhodes, with a budget of 63,576,245 euros.

As Lina Mendoni stated, “The Ministry of Culture and Sports, together with the Region and the Municipality prepared a comprehensive program for the promotion and sustainable development of the Medieval City, which is one of the huge comparative advantages, not only of Rhodes and the Dodecanese, but of Greece. It is a residential complex unique in our country, which is preserved almost intact, with its fortifications and urban planning, public buildings, temples and residences. In this area, which was declared and included in the UNESCO World Heritage sites, we must invest in order to create a better future for the city itself and its inhabitants. After 15 years of discussions, we have worked systematically since March 2020 and arrived at a realistic plan, costed down to the last detail and with secured resources, which is reflected in the text of the Program Agreement. And in the case of Rhodes, we committed to complete the procedures, to secure the resources and to proceed with actions and projects. This is exactly what we did with absolute consistency and responsibility towards the citizens of the island».

Giorgos Hatzimarkos stated that “Very important forces unite, political, scientific, social, under a common purpose. Our islands have seen solutions, answers, initiatives, where the Ministry of Culture is involved. I am grateful for the way the Ministry of Culture, under the leadership of Lina Mendoni, has dealt with this neighborhood of Greece and I am very happy that even today I stand by it in an agreement with an extremely positive sign for the place, history and people».

Antonis Kambourakis made the following statement:We express our gratitude for a very great job that has been done with seriousness, but also with a great vision. It is a Programming Convention which respects the past and above all has its eyes on the future. We declare that the Municipality of Rhodes and the citizens of the island have only to gain from the goal that must be achieved with any demands and any sacrifices for its conquest”.

In the successive meetings that followed under the leadership of Lina Mendoni and Giorgos Hatzimarkos, the progress of the projects implemented in the South Aegean Region (Cyclades and Dodecanese) by the services of the Ministry of the Interior in the current NSRF 2014-2021 and in the Recovery and Resilience Fund were discussed, as well as the Culture projects , which will be financed from the new financing period 2021-2027.

In the South Aegean region, 16 projects with a total budget of 27,895,732 euros are being implemented with funding from the NSRF 2014-2021.

23 projects have been included in the Recovery Fund and are being implemented, with a total budget of 54,330,680 euros. Special mention was made of the restoration projects of the earthquake-damaged monuments of Kos, which have all been included in the Recovery Fund, with a budget of 7,608,600 euros, and are in the tendering process. In total, in other words, projects are being carried out on monuments in the South Aegean Region with a total budget of 82,226,412 euros.

Lina Mendoni accompanied by the Secretary General of Culture Giorgos Didaskalou, the head of the Directorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities Elena Kountouri, the head of the Directorate of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Antiquities Tzoulias Papageorgiou, the head of the Directorate of Restoration of Ancient Monuments Themis Vlachoulis, the head of the NSPA Staff Structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Giannis Mylons the head of the EFA Dodecanese Mania Michailidou, the head of the EFA Cyclades Dimitris Athanasoulis and other officials of the YPPOA.