According to the statement, the Conservation Institute will be an educational and scientific centre, comprised of art studios and workshops for the restoration and conservation of cultural heritage. It will be organised and financed as a research and development institute.
Its aim will be to protect cultural goods by strategic, organised, long-term, efficient and qualitative conservation of cultural heritage in its natural environment.
The signing of a memorandum on cooperation concerning the setting up of the Conservation Institute was the first important step in this respect.
The memorandum was signed by the ministries of culture, science and education in October 2006 and the joint Italian and Serbian working groups drafted a feasibility study for establishing a central conservation institute.
Establishing the institute will make it possible to form a suitable multidisciplinary expert and scientific database for cultural heritage conservation, to offer education at an academic and expert level linked to university courses, to carry out multidisciplinary research in the areas of preventive protection measures and conservation treatments and to organise a single documentation system for cultural heritage conservation.
The institute will raise the level of professionalism in the protection and conservation of cultural heritage. It will help raise awareness about the importance of cultural heritage conservation, strengthen communication between all those involved in the conservation system and include the general public in cultural heritage conservation activities.