By Ek Tha
PHNOM PENH, 6th Sept. 2012 (PRU) - His Excellency Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Sok An expressed profound appreciation to the government of Italy for its continued support of the safeguarding of Angkor, which also contributes to the socio-economic development of the Kingdom of Wonder.
Dr. Sok An said this on Thursday at the signing ceremony of the agreement on “Safeguarding of the Angkor Wat Temple, Phase II”. Italy will contribute $200,000 and the Royal Government of Cambodia will provide $50,000 through the Apsara National Authority for the restoration of the Angkor Temple’s collapsed embankment.
UNESCO representative Anne Lemaistre and Professor Valter Maria Santoro, along with leaders of the Apsara National Authority and government officials, witnessed the signing ceremony at the Office of the Council of Ministers.
Angkor was first inscribed on the World Heritage in Danger List in 1992, and in 1993 the International Coordinating Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor (ICC-Angkor) was established to protect, preserve and develop this vast cultural heritage site.
The ICC-Angkor was set up in the wake of the Tokyo Conference in 1993 and confirmed by the Paris Conference in 2003.
The ICC-Angkor and the Royal Government of Cambodia have received assistance from and cooperated closely with 14 countries and 28 international institutions in implementing more than 60 different projects for the preservation and development of the Angkor World Heritage Site, including the Angkor Wat Temple.
As a result, in 2004, Angkor was removed from the World Heritage in Danger List, Dr. Sok An said.
The Deputy Prime Minister was pleased to acknowledge that the Director-General of UNESCO told the World Heritage Committee that the ICC-Angkor is a successful model for safeguarding heritage sites in other parts of the world with its concept of close cooperation between the government, international institutions and UNESCO.
Dr. Sok An recalled that the first phase was from 2005 to 2011, for which Italy contributed $565,000 and the Royal Government of Cambodia $56,000.
The Italian Team for the Safeguarding of Angkor was established in 1994.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that in the framework of this cooperation, the Apsara National Authority made remarkable achievements with the Pre Rup Project-Phase I, 1994-1999, the Pre Rup Project-Phase II, 1999-2001 and the Pre Rup Project-Phase III, 2001-2005, amounting to almost $2 millions.
Italian Professor Valter Maria Santoro was pleased with Cambodia’s social development compared to 1995, when the Italian staff, who started work in a pioneer atmosphere of restoring the temple, lived in a wooden hut as a guest house and office, without either running water or electricity.
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