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Royal Commission for AlUla, France’s Center Pompidou Sign Cultural Cooperation Agreement

The program aims to expand cultural cooperation in preparation for the establishment of the contemporary art museum in AlUla by 2027 - SPA
The program aims to expand cultural cooperation in preparation for the establishment of the contemporary art museum in AlUla by 2027 - SPA
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Royal Commission for AlUla, France’s Center Pompidou Sign Cultural Cooperation Agreement

The program aims to expand cultural cooperation in preparation for the establishment of the contemporary art museum in AlUla by 2027 - SPA
The program aims to expand cultural cooperation in preparation for the establishment of the contemporary art museum in AlUla by 2027 - SPA

The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) signed a partnership program agreement with France’s Center Pompidou.
The program aims to expand cultural cooperation in preparation for the establishment of the contemporary art museum in AlUla by 2027, SPA reported.
The new executive program agreement is based on the principles of a long-term partnership, focusing on the exchange of expertise, skills transfer, and building a comprehensive cooperation strategy to enhance and preserve arts, culture, science, and heritage for mutual benefit.
The program provides an opportunity to develop cultural cooperation between the RCU and Center Pompidou, establishing a framework for priorities, new proposals, and collaborative activities in the coming years.
Through a defined technical and organizational strategy, the program enables the exchange, acquisition, lending, and exhibition of artworks and handicrafts between the RCU and the French center. It also promotes various scientific and cultural initiatives that rely on the participation of unique shared elements.
The new program complements the agreement signed between the RCU and Center Pompidou last March, which aimed to develop the contemporary art museum in AlUla over several stages, leading to its planned opening in 2027.
The RCU has made great strides in its plan to establish the new museum, including the appointment of Lina Ghotmeh as the lead architect for the museum’s design.

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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.