The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) signed two agreements with Cambodia on Tuesday to protecting its Cambodian royal ballet and one of the Angkor temples.

The visiting UNESCO Director-General Matsuura Koichiro and Cambodia's Minister of Council of Ministers Sok An signed the documents in the Council of Ministers.

Matsuura said the agreements reflect the international recognition of Cambodia's world cultural monuments and the valuable contribution of Cambodian culture to the history of humanity.

Under the agreements, UNESCO will use about 2.5 million US dollars offered by Japan to help Cambodia to preserve the Bayon Temple in Angkor Thom, part of the sprawling Angkor Wat temples and Cambodia's royal ballet.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday met with visiting Matsuura Koichiro, focusing on access to education, preservation of the World Heritage-listed Angkor and other cultural monuments.

Matsuura thanked Cambodia for its efforts to preserve Angkor Wat temples and other world cultural monuments, saying that " Cambodia has made great progress on political, cultural, education and other areas in last 10 years."

Matsuura, arrived here on Monday for a two-day visit, was also granted a royal audience with King Norodom Sihamoni, who had worked in Paris as Cambodia's ambassador to the UNESCO before he took the throne in October last year.

Thanks for UNESCO's role played in Cambodia's education access and preservation of its cultural monuments, the premier, at the same time, asked UNESCO to continue to help Cambodia to preserve and maintain its cultural and historic interests.

Meanwhile, Cambodia appealed to the UNESCO to make its Preah Vihear temple merits becoming a World Heritage site, to boost its international recognition and develop it into a tourist attraction.

Matsuura said that UNESCO has already sent its experts to Preah Vihear to have an investigation on the spot.

In 1993, UNESCO listed Cambodia's Angkor Wat as a World Heritage site. Cambodia's royal ballet, a Cambodian ballet, dating back 1,000 years, was included on the UN's World Heritage list in November 2003.

Source: Xinhua