Saudi Arabia -- represented by the Saudi National Committee for Education, Culture and Science and the Kingdom’s permanent delegation to UNESCO and the Heritage Commission -- is participating in the 46th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.
The session is taking place from July 21 to 31 in New Delhi, India, and will be attended by representatives from 195 member states who ratified the World Heritage Convention of 1972.
The Saudi delegation, led by the advisor to the Saudi National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, Engineer Mohammed bin Youssef Al-Aidaroos, participated in various activities during the session that were supported by the Kingdom.
The delegation delivered speeches highlighting Saudi Arabia's interest, support, and contributions to UNESCO's efforts to preserve world heritage. Some of the activities included discussions on the digital heritage platform, capacity building in African countries, and an event on Islamic World Heritage organized by the Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ICESCO).
Additionally, the Saudi delegation met with representatives from other official delegations attending the session to strengthen cooperation in heritage conservation.
The digital heritage platform, a collaborative effort between Saudi Arabia and UNESCO, is an online platform that utilizes cutting-edge digital technologies to explore UNESCO's cultural and natural world heritage sites as well as intangible cultural heritage.
The World Heritage Committee will review a proposal to add 27 new sites from various regions worldwide to the World Heritage List. It will also assess the preservation status of 124 sites currently included on the list, including 56 that are categorized as being in danger.
The World Heritage Committee, consisting of representatives from 21 countries elected by the 195 parties to the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, oversees the implementation of the convention.
