New Zealand will offer US$3.7
million in aid to Cambodia to support a five-year Angkor Wat preservation
project. The funding was signed, last week, between Bun Narith, Cambodia’s Apsara
Authority and Brent Rapson the first secretary of New Zealand Embassy to
Bangkok.
The project will be
implemented in five years from 2014 to 2019. It is the second project funded by
New Zealand. The first five-year project on Angkor Participatory Natural
Resource Management and Livelihoods ended in September last year. Angkor Wat,
which dates back to the 9th to 12th century, was inscribed on the UNESCO’s World
Heritage List in 1992. The government said in December last year that 16
countries, including France, Japan, India, China, Switzerland and New Zealand,
and 28 international organisations have assisted Cambodia to restore the site
since then. The park is the kingdom’s largest cultural tourism destination,
which covers a total area of 40,000 hectares with a lot of ancient temples and
resorts.
Siem Reap provincial tourism
department reported international tourist arrivals to the Angkor Wat Historical
Park, January to March, this year, reached 778,740 visits, an increase of 12%
over the same period last year. Last year, it welcomed 2.23 million foreign
tourists increasing 8% year-on-year. South Korea, China, Vietnam, Japan and
Russia were the top five source markets in Q1.
Source:
http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2014/06/new-zealand-supports-angkor-restoration/
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