Havana, Sept. 20 (RHC)-- Representatives of Cuba and Mexico signed in Havana an agreement on cultural cooperation, preservation and access to digital historical heritage.

Elvira Corbelle Sanjurjo, director of the National Archives of the Republic of Cuba (ARNAC by its Spanish acronym), and Miguel Ignacio Diaz Reynoso, Mexico's ambassador to Havana, signed the document.

It provides for the establishment of the legal framework toward the sharing of information and knowledge linked to the preservation and dissemination of digital historical heritage.

Under the accord, both sides commit to the preservation of collections, through digital repositories toward permanent access by the public.

It also establishes the scope of financing processes, work programs, protection of intellectual property, information sharing and other relevant aspects, aimed at achieving a positive interaction and the conservation, protection and dissemination of the region's cultural heritage.

"Our people are united by common traditions and a shared history," the text of the agreement states.

Founded on January 28, 1840, the General Archive of the Royal Treasury –today’s National Archives of the Republic of Cuba-- is the fifth institution of its kind in Latin America, after those of Argentina (1821), Mexico (1823), Bolivia (1825) and Brazil (1838).