Montreal - The annual scramble for world heritage status opens Wednesday in Quebec City, where 41 countries are seeking the high-profile designation from UNESCO for cultural or natural sites.

Among applicants are five countries seeking their first sites on the UNESCO list - Saudi Arabia, Kyrgyzstan, Papua New Guinea, San Marino and Vanuatu.

Among Eastern European countries, Albania, Croatia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, the Russian Federation and Slovakia are applying for recognition of special sites, and Hungary and Slovakia have a joint application for designation of a network of fortifications where the Danube and Vah rivers converge in Komarno.

In the Middle East, applicants include Yemen for its Socotra Archipelago; Saudi Arabia for archaeological site al-Hijr; Iran for the Armenian monastic ensembles in its Azerbaijan province; and Israel for the triple-arch gate at Dan and the Bahai holy places in Haifa and western Galilee.

The World Heritage Committee is chaired this year by Canada, which planned the meetings, which conclude July 10, to coincide with the kickoff of Quebec City's 400th anniversary celebrations as one of North America's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Those festivities begin Thursday.

UNESCO's World Heritage list currently includes 851 properties of "outstanding universal value," including 660 cultural, 166 natural and 25 mixed properties in 141 countries.

At least 30 are on an endangered list, meaning they either need special attention to preserve them or have risked being delisted because conservators have failed either to take proper care of the sites or to comply with UNESCO rules.

Among those on the endangered list is one of Germany's most historic and scenic areas of 18th and 19th century significance, the Dresden Elbe Valley.
German authorities had decided to build a bridge in the heart of the well-known landscape against the advice of UNESCO, which urged a tunnel. Warnings were issued about the site's status in 2006 after the decision to build the bridge was taken.

No site has ever been delisted from the programme, but the issue is on the agenda for this year, UNESCO said in a press release.

Cambodia is seeking designation for its millennium-old temple, Preah Vihear, dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, but Thailand has challenged the move over a border spat dating to a 1962 International Court of Justice ruling.

In a compromise in May, Cambodia agreed to redraw the inscription map, including only the temple, but the move would limit UNESCO's say over how Preah Vihear would be preserved, officials in Cambodia and Thailand said. (dpa)