UAE fund to support world heritage restoration projects in Africa

ABU DHABI / WAM

The United Arab Emirates, represented by the Ministry of  Culture and Youth and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has announced a fund to support world heritage, document conservation and capacity building initiatives at a number of sites across Africa.
The fund will be launched in collaboration with the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (Aliph) and the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF). The announcement came during an event held by the Africa Group at Unesco headquarters in the French capital, Paris, coinciding with Africa Day celebrations on May 25 and Africa Week.
The event was attended by Sheikh Salem bin Khalid Al Qassimi, Minister of Culture and Youth; Firmin Edouard Matoko, Assistant Director-General for Priority Africa and External Relations of Unesco; Souayibou Varissou, Executive Director of the African World Heritage Fund; and Valéry Freland, Executive Director of the International alliance for the protection of heritage in conflict areas (Aliph). Ambassadors and Permanent Delegates to Unesco, and representatives of non-governmental organisations and the private sector were also present at the event.
The Ministry of Culture and Youth will represent the UAE, and become a Platinum Partner of the African World Heritage Fund. The African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) is an intergovernmental organisation created in 2006 by the African Union and Unesco to support the effective conservation and protection of cultural and natural heritage in Africa.
The main objective of the AWHF is to address the challenges faced by African States Parties in the implementation of the Unesco 1972 World Heritage Convention, specifically, the underrepresentation of African sites on the World Heritage List and the conservation and management of these sites.
The UAE’s contributions also aim to build the capacities of local communities, while Aliph, which the UAE co-founded in 2017 in collaboration with France, will implement three projects in Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia.
In a statement, Sheikh Salem bin Khalid Al Qassimi, Minister of Culture and Youth, said, “In the UAE, we are committed to conserving human heritage in all its forms, and strengthening partnerships with international organisations actively working in this field, out of our belief in the importance of preserving this heritage for future generations, and the role it plays.”