HE Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), co-presided, with HE Jack Lang of the Arab World Institute, the first board meeting of the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas (ALIPH), held Friday 7th May in Geneva.  The goal of this first meeting was to confirm the board members to-date and make key decisions on the administrative set up of the organization to ensure that ALIPH is operational by the final quarter of 2017.
 
HE Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak stated: “This meeting emphasises the commitment of all those who responded to our call-in Abu Dhabi and the urgent need to establish ALIPH as an organization. The mandate of ALIPH is the safeguarding of heritage and culture in conflicted areas; The initiatives that will be taking place over the next couple of years will support to preserve the world cultural heritage and to emphasize worldwide on the importance of understanding our history and protecting it for future generations. We have discussed our goals for the coming years during this meeting, and I am extremely confident that this board will achieve significant results .”
 
The meeting was also attended by HH Hussah al Sabah of Kuwait, Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah Director-General and Co-Founder,  Dr. Ali Al Ghabban of Saudi Arabia, Vice-President of Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, HE Mr Guy Arendt, Luxembourg State Secretary of Culture, Mr Mehdi Qotbi,  Moroccan painter and President of the Museum Foundation of Morocco Mr. Jean Claude Gandur of the Gandur Foundation for Art, Ms. Mariët Westerman of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Dr. Richard Kurin of the Smithsonian Institute, and Dr. Markus Hilgert of the Pergamonmuseum.

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