Luanda – The Angola government has said it will invest 95 billion kwanzas for the Management Plan of Mbanza Kongo municipality, northern Zaire province, the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Filipe Zau, said Thursday in Luanda.

The minister made the statement on the sidelines of the 2nd Ordinary Session of the National Multisectoral Commission for the Safeguarding of the Mbanza Kongo World Heritage.

According to the minister, the plan aims to turn Mbanza Kongo into a research and tourist attraction centre of national, regional and international reference, taking into account the exceptional universal value of this world heritage and places of memory recognized by UNESCO.

 The minister added that the plan includes the organization of scientific meetings with researchers from different parts of the world to promote the exchange of knowledge and define strategies for disseminating the history of the Kingdom of Kongo and the Diaspora.

 Filipe Zau said that the plan will encourage young people to learn ancestral techniques in terms of arts and gastronomy for the benefit of local communities, as part of the process of conservation, protection and valorization of material heritage.

The plan encompasses Mbanza Kongo's tourism management strategy, which aims to diversify the range of tourist activities on offer, develop the municipality's territory, increase tourist accommodation facilities by more than 15 percent, expand the restaurant network by 20 percent and complementary services by 15 percent, as well as train and qualify professionals in the tourism sector.

 Created under Presidential Decree, the National Multisectoral Commission for the Safeguarding of the World Heritage is responsible for promoting the implementation of conservation programs and the participatory management of cultural heritage, taking into account the need to adopt special measures to monitor valuable national cultural heritage. FMA/MCN/ADR/AMP