Tourists visit the Mogao Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage site with numerous ancient murals and Buddhist statues, in Dunhuang, Gansu province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

LANZHOU -- The UNESCO and Northwest China's Gansu province have signed a partnership agreement to promote cultural heritage protection and creative industries development in the province.

At the virtual signing ceremony on Thursday, Shahbaz Khan, director and representative of the UNESCO Beijing Office, said UNESCO is committed to continuing to support Gansu in becoming a "truly world class cultural center."

UNESCO will bring in best practices in site conservation and management, sustainable cultural tourism development, community involvement in heritage protection, safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage and development of cultural and creative industries, Khan said.

According to the agreement, UNESCO will provide solutions for the province to implement a cultural and creative industry development framework, and hold training sessions on intangible cultural heritage protection and creative industries development.

Dunhuang, a city in Gansu that is home to the UNESCO World Heritage site Mogao Grottoes, is on its way to becoming a cultural hub along the Silk Road, Khan said.

"I see also a fantastic window of opportunity for the whole province to start visioning the next generation of urban development, focusing on an integrated approach to culture-based sustainable development," said Khan.

Gansu hopes the cooperation will allow the province to share with the world its experience in cultural heritage protection and innovation so as to promote global cultural development, said Chen Weizhong, head of the Gansu provincial department of culture and tourism.