Iran has allocated $2.5 billion in the next decade to protect its cultural heritage, a senior official said, Iranian Cultural Heritage News Agency reported.

In a meeting with Koichiro Matsuro, UNESCO’s director general, head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (CHTO) explained Tehran’s mid and long-term plans to preserve and protect its millennia-old heritage.

“Iranian government has slated $2.5 billion in the next ten years to safeguarding its cultural heritage and all institutions including parliament and municipalities are ordered to cooperate with CHTO,” Hussein Marashi said.

He also urged the UN body to lift the quota for Iran to enroll its cultural heritage sites on a prestigious global list.

UNESCO adopted a resolution last year stipulating that each member state is allowed to register just one heritage site on the World Heritage List. Iran unsuccessfully expressed its objection during the voting, arguing it infringes the right of those nations with a long-standing history and civilization.