Participants Unanimously Elect the Representative of the U.A.E. National Archives the President and Representative of the Arab Experts in the Forum

The National Archives Participates in an International Workshop Specialized in the Restoration and Maintenance of Heritage

The National Archives of the United Arab Emirates participated in an international workshop organized by the Chinese Ministry of Culture for Arab experts on the restoration and maintenance of the cultural heritage “Documents and Manuscripts”. The representative of the National Archives of the U.A.E. was elected president and representative of Arab experts in the Sino-Arab Forum for the restoration and maintenance of cultural heritage.

The National Archives participated in this specialized international workshop because of its importance in educating the participants about issues mainly related to the National Archives’ aspirations to establish a modern and sophisticated laboratory for the restoration of historical documents and manuscripts prone to damages.

The organizers of the specialized workshop gave due attention to the participants in order to deepen the Sino-Arab cultural exchange, consolidate friendship between the two sides and brief the Arab experts on China's experience in restoring, safeguarding and utilizing archival documents of heritage and precious manuscripts. The ten Arab countries that participated in the workshop, which lasted 20 days, were the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, and Tunisia.

The International Workshop was held in the city of Ningbo, one of China's most prosperous and developing regions. Its port was the starting point of the Silk Road. Not only did the workshop focus on the restoration and maintenance of cultural heritage, but also on the foundations of Sino-Arab cooperation and the prospects of development in the future. The workshop has also dealt with the paper industry, which was a Chinese invention, and from China, it spread to the rest of the world. It also covered the maintenance of the cultural heritage and the functions of museums in the modern era. The workshop dealt with restoration and preservation methods, and the techniques of restoration, documents and manuscripts, as well as the history and culture of China and the principles of restoring ancient documents and manuscripts. Many senior professionals and researchers in heritage and history and technical specialists in restoration and maintenance of heritage have given valuable lectures in the workshop.

The workshop program included a number of field trips to historical areas, structures and places related to the themes of the workshop, and the participants were able to form an integrated conception of the historical stature of China and its historical ties with the Arabs.