Central Asia and Iran

On 5 and 6 November 2018, UNESCO, in partnership with the International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS), organized an international conference on “Afghanistan, Central Asia and Iran – Common Heritage along the Silk Roads and corridors to and from Europe”.
This international conference in Samarkand is organized to launch the UNESCO/EU project on Silk Roads Heritage Corridors in Afghanistan, Central Asia and Iran – International Dimension of the European Year of Cultural Heritage (2018).
The aim of the EU/UNESCO project in Afghanistan, Central Asia and Iran is to: (i) strengthen capacities for safeguarding tangible and intangible cultural heritage, (ii) raise awareness and promote the common cultural heritage along the Silk Roads, and (iii) use heritage as a foundation platform for sustainable development, including through the development of sustainable heritage-based tourism.
As a participating country, the Islamic republic of Iran had four members in its delegation. The representative of the UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office, The Assistant Secretary General for Research and Head of the Culture Department of the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO (nominated as focal point for the UNESCO/EU project), The Deputy Head of the Iranian National Museum and the Member of the IR of Iran to IICAS, also a member to the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Opening ceremony was followed by the speech of the representative of the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO. He briefed the session on the activities undertaken by the IR of Iran with regards to the Silk Roads, furture activities of the Country in this respect and ways to improve relations between the nations of the Silk Roads and the European Union. He continued by emphasising the problem of water scarcity in the region and the need to come-up with joint mechanisms to overcome this problem, calling for a meeting of the National Committees for Hyrdology of the Silk Road countries to convene a joint plan to meet this problem.
The second day saw to the speeches of the Iranian member to IICAS and the Representative of the National Museum of Iran, among other events.