Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan announced (Monday), that his country has provided $30 million to the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (Alef) in support of its efforts to protect and rehabilitate cultural heritage.
This came during his participation in the second “Alef” donors’ conference, which was held in the French capital, Paris, as this comes as an extension of Saudi Arabia’s support for the Foundation and its noble goals.
Prince Badr bin Abdullah said that the Kingdom, based on the centrality of culture in its development plan “Vision 2030”, takes seriously the need to protect cultural heritage from various threats and reduce the risk factors leading to its neglect and destruction.
“The heritage and culture of our rich and diverse country and the world at large, training specialists, empowering and supporting professional networks in the field of heritage need to be preserved. “he added.
He explained that Saudi Arabia invested its leadership in adding the cultural track to the G20 to highlight the role of heritage preservation in comprehensive and sustainable development.
He expressed his country’s pride in its contributions to support the success of the Foundation’s work during the past period, stressing the commitment to explore ways to develop and enhance this support in the next stage.
It is noteworthy that the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (Alef) is an organization established in 2017, intending to work for the benefit of cultural heritage in conflict areas through an assistance program that enables it to be flexible and quick to respond.
The three areas of its intervention are preventive protection to reduce the risks of destruction, emergency measures to ensure heritage security, and post-conflict actions to allow local people to re-enjoy their cultural heritage.
