RIYADH: The King Salman bin Abdulaziz Royal Reserve Development Authority recently signed a joint agreement with the Saudi Heritage Commission that seeks to preserve the Kingdom’s cultural inheritance. Programs and collective projects will be launched as a part of the memorandum of understanding to help protect and register cultural heritage sites. The agreement will encourage the finding of archaeological remains and renovation of cultural heritage sites. Exchanging information on cultural heritage will be an important feature for the drafting of reports and recommendations. Events and workshops related to the subject will also be held. The agreement opens the door for a new era of tourism, with the Kingdom recognized globally for its heritage sites, handcrafts and future archaeological excavations within the royal reserve. Both parties are expected to cooperate in restoring and consolidating architectural elements on royal reserve sites. Other royal reserves in the Kingdom are likely to forge similar agreements with the Ministry of Culture to protect cultural and historical sites within their boundaries. Recently, the Imam Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Royal Reserve Development Authority distributed more than 500,000 wild seeds to visitors to the International Exhibition and Forum on Afforestation Technologies in Riyadh. The authority’s pavilion intended to highlight its role in environmental preservation, natural sustainability, the fight against desertification and the process of restoring environmental balance through the development and expansion of vegetation cover.