The European Union (EU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Tuesday announced the scaling up of joint operations in areas of mutual interest such as education, culture and science and technology.

New initiatives for the coming year will include safeguarding Timbuktu's unique manuscripts in Mali, making a survey of groundwater resources in Iraq and offering technical assistance to developing countries for cultural development.

"The EU and the UNESCO share several priorities, but above all they share the desire to strengthen fundamental values to achieve inclusive development," the EU's development commissioner Andris Piebalgs said on Tuesday.

The European Commission's contribution to this partnership should amount to about 30 million euros (41 million U.S. dollars) since it signed a memorandum of understanding one year ago with UNESCO to encourage increased policy dialogue on areas of mutual interest.

Within that memorandum, a wide range of projects have been undertaken across the world, such as building tsunami emergency response capacity in Haiti, preserving cultural heritage in Egypt and helping countries recruit and train teachers.