His Majesty, the Supreme Council member and ruler of Sharjah, Dr. Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, was present when a $6 million grant from the Sharjah Book Authority was signed to digitise UNESCO’s worldwide archive.
The signing was held on Wednesday at the Unesco headquarters in Paris in the presence of his wife, Audrey Azoulay, the Director-General of Unesco, and Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, the Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs.
Jennifer Linkins, Assistant Director-General for Administration and Management at Unesco, and Sheikha Bodour Bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), signed the agreement.
The initiative seeks to safeguard significant records, maintain digital accessibility, and conserve world history at the order of the Ruler of Sharjah. This five-year project will involve digitising books, manuscripts, audio recordings, films, and other archive resources.
Sheikh Sultan led a tour of the Unesco Library and Archive, looking at
essential holdings such as books, manuscripts, and international papers. He was also briefed on the library’s vital roles in advancing the organisation’s goals and using its cultural assets to further UNESCO’s mission and employees’ efforts.
During the tour, Sheikh Sultan saw several old historical papers, some of which had been damaged by worsening circumstances. This highlighted how crucial the digitalisation agreement is to safeguarding Unesco’s historical, intellectual, and cultural assets.
With almost 80 years of historical documents, the Unesco archive is one of the biggest and most significant institutional archives in the world. The collection includes hundreds of hours of audio and video recordings, 165,000 rare pictures, and over 2.5 million documentation pages. These resources document significant meetings, treaties, international communication, heritage preservation initiatives, and other turning points in the history of global culture and education.
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