YANGON, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar and Italy are stepping up cooperation in capacity building for cultural heritage preservation of Myanmar, official media reported Friday.
The capacity building program for preservation of Myanmar cultural heritage is being done with Italy's assistance under the supervision of the UNESCO.
Meeting in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar Information and Culture Minister U Kyaw Hsan and Italian Foreign Minister Giuliomaria Terzi touched on increased cooperation in the aspects, training for human resources development of Myanmar and further cooperation in cultural and information sectors, said the New Light of Myanmar.
The capacity building programs for preservation of Myanmar cultural heritage cover three sectors, namely on-job training to draw management plan for safeguarding sites of cultural heritage in ancient Pyu and Bagan cities in need of urgent preservation, cultural heritage data management with the application of geography information system, and policy and technological assistance to Myanmar.
Meanwhile, Myanmar is nominating three Pyu city states -- Beikthano, Hanlin and Sri Kestra to the world heritage list.
Evidences including Pondaung and Ponnya Primates have been found in Myanmar, showing the country's rich cultural heritage and evolution through the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.
Pyu culture has been discovered through evidences from the three Pyu city states, cultural officials said.
The minstry is also working in cooperation with the UNESCO to sign the Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention to win a place in the world's heritage list for the country's tangible cultural heritage.
Myanmar and the UNESCO held a meeting recently on capacity building project to safeguard cultural heritage in Myanmar and an expert seminar on world heritage nomination of Pyu ancient cities.
The Italian government funds and provides technical assistance to the capacity building for safeguarding cultural heritage.
