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Saudi Assistant Minister of Culture Holds Talks with British, Iranian Officials

Saudi Assistant Minister of Culture Rakan Al-Touq meets with UK's Parliamentary Under Secretary of State of Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Lord Stephen Parkinson in Riyadh. (SPA)
Saudi Assistant Minister of Culture Rakan Al-Touq meets with UK's Parliamentary Under Secretary of State of Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Lord Stephen Parkinson in Riyadh. (SPA)
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Saudi Assistant Minister of Culture Holds Talks with British, Iranian Officials

Saudi Assistant Minister of Culture Rakan Al-Touq meets with UK's Parliamentary Under Secretary of State of Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Lord Stephen Parkinson in Riyadh. (SPA)
Saudi Assistant Minister of Culture Rakan Al-Touq meets with UK's Parliamentary Under Secretary of State of Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Lord Stephen Parkinson in Riyadh. (SPA)

Saudi Assistant Minister of Culture Rakan Al-Touq held talks in Riyadh on Wednesday with the UK's Parliamentary Under Secretary of State of Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Lord Stephen Parkinson.

They met on the sidelines of the 45th Extended Session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, which is taking place in the Saudi capital from September 10 to 25.

Al-Touq welcomed the British official to Saudi Arabia and extended his gratitude to the UK for announcing support for the Kingdom’s nomination to the UNESCO Executive Board for the term 2023-2027 term.

The officials discussed the existing cooperation and stressed the importance of developing bilateral relations within the framework of the memorandum of understanding for cultural cooperation that was signed in February 2022.

They also looked forward to cooperating in developing various projects in the heritage and museum fields.

Al-Touq also met with Iranian Vice Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Dr. Ali Darabi, who was also attending the UNESCO event.

The officials discussed ways to boost cultural cooperation in various fields.

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Australia Bans Uranium Mining at Indigenous Site

A view shows a sign at the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) Ranger Project Area in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Territory, Australia, July 11, 2024. (Reuters)
A view shows a sign at the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) Ranger Project Area in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Territory, Australia, July 11, 2024. (Reuters)
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Australia Bans Uranium Mining at Indigenous Site

A view shows a sign at the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) Ranger Project Area in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Territory, Australia, July 11, 2024. (Reuters)
A view shows a sign at the Energy Resources Australia (ERA) Ranger Project Area in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Territory, Australia, July 11, 2024. (Reuters)

Australia moved Saturday to ban mining at one of the world's largest high-grade uranium deposits, highlighting the site's "enduring connection" to Indigenous Australians.

The Jabiluka deposit in northern Australia is surrounded by the heritage-listed Kakadu national park, a tropical expanse of gorges and waterfalls featured in the first "Crocodile Dundee" film.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the national park would be extended to include the Jabiluka site -- which has never been mined -- honoring the decades-long desires of the Mirrar people.

"They were seeking a guarantee that there would never be uranium mining on their land," Albanese told a crowd of Labor Party supporters in Sydney.

"This means there will never be mining at Jabiluka," he added.

Archaeologists discovered a buried trove of stone axes and tools near the Jabiluka site in 2017, which they dated at tens of thousands of years old.

The find was "proof of the extraordinary and enduring connection Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander have had with our land", Albanese said.

"The Mirrar people have loved and cared for their land for more than 60,000 years.

"That beautiful part of Australia is home to some of the oldest rock art in the world," he added.

Discovered in the early 1970s, efforts to exploit the Jabiluka deposit have for decades been tied-up in legal wrangling between Indigenous custodians and mining companies.

It is one of the world's largest unexploited high-grade uranium deposits, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Rio Tinto-controlled company Energy Resources of Australia previously held mining leases at Jabiluka.

The conservation of Indigenous sites has come under intense scrutiny in Australia after mining company Rio Tinto blew up the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters in 2020.

Australia's conservative opposition has vowed to build nuclear power plants across the country if it wins the next election, overturning a 26-year nuclear ban.