Xian -- The Alliance for Cultural Heritage in Asia (ACHA), the first mechanism for international cooperation for the conservation of cultural heritage across Asia, started its three-day conference in Xi'an, the capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, on Monday.
Representatives from 21 Asian countries, UNESCO, and international cultural heritage protection organizations attended the event to discuss joint archaeology, cultural heritage protection and restoration projects.

It is the first offline intergovernmental conference focusing on cultural heritage collaboration hosted by China since early 2020.
Monday's council meeting adopted the alliance's charter, 2023-2024 annual work plan, and Xi'an Declaration. It also elected the secretary-general of the alliance and approved its new member states, observer states, and partner states.

In 2021, 10 Asian countries, namely, China, Armenia, Cambodia, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, jointly initiated the alliance for cultural heritage conservation, aiming to promote cultural heritage conservation and exchanges among Asian countries.

The Chau Say Tevoda temple in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia, was the first China-hosted international joint restoration program overseas, where work began in 1998.

Over the past decade, thanks to the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative which calls for strengthening people-to-people exchanges, Chinese experts have been engaged in protecting and conserving 11 heritage sites in six Asian countries.

This work included restoration of the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Itchan Kala, the inner section of the ancient city of Khiva in Uzbekistan, which was completed in 2019, and the ongoing restoration of the Thatbyinnyu Phaya temple in Bagan, Myanmar.