UAE awarded permanent seat on world culture council

▶ Country wins observer status on international body after Rome vote

The United Arab Emirates has been granted permanent membership to one of the world’s foremost intergovernmental bodies dedicated to culture.

The UAE was granted observer status on the Council of the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property by unanimous vote at a meeting in Rome, Italy.

The decision on Friday was made in recognition of the UAE’s support to the centre, including its hosting of the only regional meeting for the Arab Region at a Sharjah event.

The centre was created in New Delhi, India, in 1956 and is based in Rome. It has 136 member states.

“On behalf of my country, I am proud to reiterate that we will continue to focus on the exploration of our history and heritage with the world, in order to tell our own story but also to demonstrate the shared story that brings all nations together,” said Noura Al Kaabi, the UAE’s Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development.

“For that reason, we will exert the same energy to preserve and protect our cultural heritage and work with ICCROM and other nations to safeguard our global human heritage.”

Regional projects by the UAE include its work to restore historic monuments in Mosul, Iraq, in partnership with Unesco and the Iraqi goverment.

In Bahrain, the UAE recently reopened the heritage house Nuzul Al Salam, in collaboration with the Sheikh Ebrahim bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Center for Culture and Research.