The Ministry of Heritage and Culture (MoHC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Portuguese Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation on Monday.
The MoU was signed from the Omani side by H E Salim bin Mohammed al Mahrouqi, the Undersecretary for Heritage Affairs at MoHC, and by Emilio Rui Vilar, chairman of the foundation's board of trustees, on behalf of the foundation.
The MoU aims to enhance cooperation in various fields including supporting MoHC's initiatives to promote the museum sector in the sultanate. The agreement will help in promoting and managing an integrated programme in the field of restoration and preventive conservation, as well as preparing a long-term programme to boost cultural activities and exhibitions.
The MoU represents the first stage of a series of agreements to be signed with a number of international museums. The agreements will allow the ministry to manage the national museum programme, which will get a further boost once the national museum project and natural history museum are completed, with technical support from the Smithsonian Institution in USA.
The first meeting of the scientific committee will be held in March to discuss the scientific framework of the maritime history museum. The foundation is running a number of activities in the fields of arts, education and science.
© Muscat Daily 2012
