UAE, France Announce New Partnership on Safeguarding

A new international partnership aimed at protecting cultural heritage during armed conflicts will be announced between the United Arab Emirates and France at the Safeguarding Endangered Cultural Heritage Conference in Abu Dhabi.

    This initiative will be launched by Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and President of France Francois Hollande during the conference held under the patronage of UNESCO, on 2nd and 3rd December at Emirates Palace, according to Emirates News Agency (WAM).

    The conference will brings together more than 40 countries as well as key players, private or public institutions, involved in world heritage conservation.

    The global conference is being organized by the two governments in response to the growing threats to some of the world's most important cultural resources arising from sustained periods of armed conflicts, acts of terrorism and illicit trafficking of cultural property.

    The systematic destruction or looting of historic sites and monuments representing civilizations that go back millennia, like in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Mali, and throughout the world, are among the cases that have motivated the UAE and France to partner and to support UNESCO's global mandate to protect cultural heritage during armed conflicts.

    The mandate for the conference will be to define and achieve practical and sustainable goals in effectively safeguarding endangered movable and immovable cultural resources. This will involve the development of concrete and innovative solutions as well as the creation of a global framework for immediate and long-term goals.

    The conference will conclude with the adoption of the Abu Dhabi Declaration.