“The registration of Turaif Quarter of the historic Al-Diriya has created great interest in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and has confirmed the historical importance of the Arabian Peninsula as the home of ancient civilization,” said Prince Sultan in an SCTA statement issued on Wednesday.
Prince Sultan received a congratulatory note from Chinese Ambassador Yang Honglin, who praised the efforts of the SCTA and other authorities that led to the “approval of the World Heritage Committee for the registration of Al-Turaif Quarter in the historic Al-Diriya in the World Heritage List.”
The Chinese envoy also expressed his readiness to work toward enhancing cooperation between “relevant authorities in the two countries in the field of tourism and historic and cultural heritage.”
Fahad bin Abdullah Al-Samari, director general of Darat King Abdul Aziz, also sent a congratulatory message to Prince Sultan.
“Dr. Al-Samari commended the resolution of the World Heritage Committee, which put the historic Al-Diriya in its rightful place within the World Heritage,” the prince said.
Al-Samari also commended “SCTA’s efforts under the presidency of Prince Sultan, which led to the final approval of World Heritage Committee for registering Al-Turaif Quarter in Al-Diriya in the World Heritage List.”
The approval was granted by the World Heritage Committee of the UNESCO during its 34th meeting in Brasilia, which ended on Tuesday.
Other sites inscribed during the committee’s 10-day session include an imperial palace in Vietnam, temples and rugged red terrain in China, an Australian penal colony, a historic bazaar in Iran, archipelagos off Hawaii and in the South Pacific, national park in France’s Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean and in Tanzania, 14th-century villages in South Korea and an 18th-century astronomical observatory in India.
