Unesco will on Monday organize an international meeting aimed at rebuilding the war-torn ancient Iraqi city of Mosul's cultural heritage, rehabilitating its education system and revitalising its cultural life, the United Nations culture body announced.
The first 'Revive the Spirit of Mosul' initiative is being at Unesco's headquarters in Paris and is being jointly organised with Iraq's government, Unesco said.
"We wish to concentrate our efforts on the human dimension of the city’s reconstruction through the promotion of culture and education. Only by restoring the shared cultural heritage and revitalizing cultural and educational life will the people of Mosul be, once again, actors in the renewal of their country," said Unesco's director-general Audrey Azoulay.
Top Iraqi government aid Mahdi Al-Alak will together with Azoulay open the conference which will be attended by politicians including ministers, representatives of religious authorities and Unesco partners, international experts and civil society members, Unesco said.
The event seeks to take stock of the situation in Mosul, once an ethnically and religiously diverse city - after its liberation from the Islamic State jihadist group in 2017 after four years of devastating conflict.
Iraq's culture and education ministers and the director of the University of Mosul's library, will share their expertise on the history of the city and explain the current situation, talks that will be followed by two roundtable discussions, Unesco said.
The conference comes at a key moment for Iraq - where political forces are struggling to form a new government in Baghdad, four months after national elections and amid growing unrest in the southern oil port of Basra.
