TYRE: The International Committee for the Safeguarding of Tyre announced on Wednesday the launching of the League of Phoenician, Canaanite and Punic Cities. The league will be part of the Tyre Foundation, a new international organization that is to include about 30 cities located on the Mediterranean coast. It will aim at reinforcing cooperation between the cities on four main aspects: culture, tourism, preservation of traditional crafts and combating sea pollution. The Tyre Foundation would also be collaborating with more than 40 universities across the Mediterranean. 

Head of the International Committee for the Safeguarding of Tyre Maha al-Khalil Shalabi explained that the idea for the league was presented at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris. The goal was to create an association of cities that were founded by the Phoenicians or that had commercial, cultural or human relations with the Phoenicians. 

Shalabi added that the league so far included Lebanese cities as well as Syrian, French, Turkish, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Egyptian, Tunisian, Yemeni, Cypriot and many other Mediterranean cities. 

The municipalities of these cities would collaborate with responsible authorities in order to promote cultural exchange and tourist development. 

Renowned international organizations would also be cooperating with the league. 

The league is under the care of the International Committee for the Safeguarding of Tyre, a UNESCO association founded in 1980. It is to organize a second convention to further discuss its objectives on October 30 and October 31.