Abu Dhabi, Nov 16 (IANS/WAM) The United Arab Emirates and France will cooperate to protect cultural heritage during armed conflicts.

This initiative will be launched by Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and Francois Hollande, President of France, it was announced at the Safeguarding Endangered Cultural Heritage Conference here.

The conference is being organised in response to the growing threats to some of the world's most important cultural resources arising from sustained periods of armed conflicts, acts of terrorism and illicit trafficking of cultural property.

The systematic destruction or looting of historic sites and monuments representing civilisations that go back millennia, like in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Mali, and throughout the world, are among the cases that have motivated the UAE and France to partner and to support Unesco's global mandate to protect cultural heritage during armed conflicts, according to Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority.