Ifugao Province, Philippines and Italy's Cinque Terre Park sign Twinning Program

On 25 November 2009, the UNESCO World Heritage sites of the Ifugao Rice Terraces in the Philippines and Cinque Terre in Italy signed the Twinning Program of Exchange and Cooperation agreement at the Kiangan municipality in Ifugao.

Governor Teodoro Baguilat Jr and Arch. Pasquale Bruno Malara, Director of the Regional Directorate of Liguria for Cultural Heritage and Landscape led the Twinning signing. Recognized as outstanding and evolving organic cultural landscapes, both sites agreed to promote and expand an effective and mutually beneficial cooperation for the sites' conservation and sustainable development. The Twinning Agreement will include activities on sustainable tourism, agricultural and agro-industrial technology transfer and exchange, climate change information exchange, education programs on indigenous knowledge systems, architectural and landscape conservation.

Malara was joined by University of Genoa professors Mariolina Besio, Roberto Passalacqua, Arch. Luisa De Marco from Liguria Regional Directorate and Dr. Francesco Marchese of the Cinque Terre National Park during the Italian Delegation's mission in the Philippines from 23 to 27 November.

The mission of the Italian delegation in Ifugao is supported by the Culture Committee of the UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines, Province of Ifugao, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Department of Tourism and Philippine Tourism Authority.