Oman to fund US4.5mn UN project for preserving audio visual archives
Date
11/23/2015 5:17:55 AM
(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat-
Oman will finance a US$4.5mn project to digitise the UN's audio-visual archives.
Responsible for Foreign Affairs agreed to the financing of the digitisation project during his visit to the UN in New York in September said Christina Gallach Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information at the UN. She said Oman has made a strategic choice to partner with the UN department. 'I think it's very telling of the relationship they have with the UN and I can tell you that we'll take very good advantage of this relationship for the promotion of information the promotion of historical archives the promotion of new policies' she said. 'So I can only praise the work done by the sultanate in this field.' The project will digitise 22000 hours of analog film 6000 hours of film and 18 hours of audio archives. Footage of Oman's flag being raised when it received UN membership will also be transferred. The project which will be carried out by a US-based company would begin by early 2016 and would likely last more than one year said Christina. 'Nobody else is giving financial support to do it except the Government of Oman so we are very pleased to have this partnership' she said at a press conference recently. Oman is already leading a similar project to digitise UN's pre-1993 written documents before the organisation began using computers which is being financed by Qatar.
Christina said that the UN is also seeking to undertake a third project to digitise its two libraries in New York and Geneva.
She met Omani officials including the deputy prime minister and the ministers of information and higher education during her visit.
The UN's Department of Public Information focuses on communicating the UN's activities with the public.