Washington/Quebec City  - Two historic cities on the Straits of Malacca - Melaka and George Town - have been added to UNESCO's World Heritage list on Monday by the committee meeting in Canada.

The two towns developed over 500 years of trading and cultural exchanges between East and West in the Straits of Malacca, bringing "tangible and intangible" evidence of a multicultural heritage that combines the influences of Asia and Europe, UNESCO said on its website.

Melaka's heritage dates back to the 15th-century Malay sultanate in Melaka and the Portuguese and Dutch periods beginning in the early 16th century.

George Town's residential and commercial buildings represent the British era from the end of the 18th century.

"The two towns constitute a unique architectural and cultural townscape without parallel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia," the UNESCO selection committee said. (dpa)