Prime Minister Nawaf Salam received the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Dr. Khaled Al-Anani. During the meeting, they discussed ways to enhance cooperation between Lebanon and the organization in the fields of education, culture, heritage, media, science and technology, in addition to supporting Lebanon’s efforts to protect its archaeological and heritage sites and rehabilitate those affected by them, promote education, and ensure the safety of journalists. A memorandum of understanding was also signed between the Lebanese government and UNESCO, signed on the Lebanese side by the Minister of Culture, Dr. Ghassan Salama, with the aim of establishing a comprehensive and sustainable institutional framework for cooperation in areas of common interest. During the meeting, President Salam said: “The UNESCO General Conference was held in Beirut in 1948, during which Arabic was adopted as the working language of the conference, in a historic step that established its presence in the world. The great writer Taha Hussein attended on this occasion and gave a lecture on the Arabic language. It is not a coincidence that Beirut has been designated, since 2019, as a Creative City for Literature in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Despite the wars and destruction it has known, and the tragedies it has experienced, especially the explosion of its port in 2020, it is still a vibrant city, and carries the banner of culture and renewal in our Arab world. The registration of the castles of Jabal Amel and Tyre on the list of threatened heritage sites is of particular importance, as the attack on heritage is not an attack on stone alone, but rather an attack on the people’s memory and the country’s history.”