The Head of State congratulated the Turkmen citizens on inclusion of dutar making craftsmanship and art of traditional music performing on it combined with singing to the UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Deputy Chairman of the Turkmen Government, Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov during the online working meeting on Monday briefed the President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on the steps taken to further develop cooperation with the United Nations and its leading structures, in particular the UN specialized agency for education, science and culture – UNESCO.

The meeting was also attended by some vice-premiers and khyakims of Ashgabat and velayats, the country’s official media reports.

During the 16th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage, held in Paris on December 13-18, it was unanimously decided to add the dutar making craftsmanship and art of traditional music performing on it (art of Bakhshi) to the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Meredov said, adding that on January 30, the original of the relevant certificate was received from UNESCO.

Following the briefing, the Head of State warmly congratulated the participants of the meeting and all Turkmen citizens on this significant event.

The Turkmen Leader then addressed the Foreign Minister with specific instructions, including the preparation of a plan for upcoming events at the national and international levels related to the inclusion of the Turkmen art to the UNESCO list.

Further, addressing the Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet Sapardurdy Toyliyev, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov instructed to speed up the process of creating UNESCO chairs at the Turkmen State University named after Magtymguly and the Turkmen State Pedagogical Institute named after Seyitnazar Seydi, and to strengthen measures for inclusion of a number of secondary schools of the country in UNESCO schools association.

Addressing the Deputy Chairperson of the Cabinet Mahrijemal Mammedova, the Turkmen President instructed to urgently prepare the order of events to be held in the velayats and Ashgabat on the occasion of the inclusion of the Turkmen craft to the UNESCO list.

The meeting also touched upon the issues of socio-economic development of the capital and velayats, preparations for the spring sowing season, tasks related to seasonal agricultural work and some important issues related to current state of affairs.

Business Turkmenistan