UNESCO conf on Indian heritage cities in Jaipur

New Delhi, Sept 24: A three-day conference on ''Indian Cities of Living Heritage,'' aimed at safeguarding and developing historic cities and promoting heritage and creativity as the driving force for urban development, gets under way in Jaipur tomorrow.

The network for Indian Cities of Living Heritage (ICLH), being established by UNESCO will be officially inaugurated at the Conference.

The conference is jointly organised by UNESCO and Union Urban Development Ministry, with support from the Rajasthan government and FICCI.

''The conference aims to address the critical issues of safeguarding and developing historic cities, UNESCO said in a statement.

The French Association des Villes d'Art et d'Histoire et À Secteurs Sauvegardes (Association of Cities of Art and History and Conservation Areas) and Jaipur Virasat Foundation are also partners to the event.

The inaugural session of the conference would be attended by Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje, Jaipur Mayor Ashok Parnami, besides Mr Lalit Panwar, Secretary, Urban Development, Rajasthan Government, a FICCI representative from the state.

The network of ICLH will serve as a platform linking Indian cities trying to make heritage conservation a positive part of their development.

''It advocates the role of heritage as a resource for sustainable development, which will benefit all parts of the population. Indian city members of this Network will benefit from mutual exchange of experiences and best practices as well as from technical support through decentralized cooperation schemes between Indian and international partner cities facilitated by UNESCO, the statement said.

A 'Cultural Knowledge Database for Heritage Cities' will provide a broad range of online information to all the members.

The promotion of heritage and creativity as the driving force for urban development, socio-economic and cultural growth and employment generation will furthermore be achieved through capacity-building and technical support; advice for institutional and legal heritage protection and conservation; as well as operational support for projects, including fundraising from International and Indian agencies and other funding programmes, the UNESCO said.

The conference, first of its kind will provide an opportunity for exchanging experiences from India and Europe as also lay the foundation for future collaboration.

UNI