(Isfahan, Islamic Republic of Iran, 18-19 October 2023)
This sub-regional Expert Meeting was held on 18-19 October in Isfahan (Islamic Republic of Iran) and was hosted by the Regional Research Centre for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in West and Central Asia (Tehran ICH Centre) with the cooperation of International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (ICHCAP), both Category 2 Centres for UNESCO, and the Persian Garden Institute for Living Heritage, a UNESCO accredited NGO. In the opening session of the first day, welcoming remarks were delivered by Mr. Ali Darabi, Vice Minister for Culture and Deputy for Cultural Heritage and Chair on the Governing Council of the Tehran ICH Centre, Ms. Atousa Momeni, Director-General of the Tehran ICH Centre and Mr. Jisung Kim, Director-General of ICHCAP. This was followed by two Panels in which a series of rich and highly informative case studies were presented from Afghanistan, Armenia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Turkey. There were also two presentations from Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan delivered via video link. Ms. Susan Schnuttgen, Chief of the Capacity-building and Heritage Policy Unit in UNESCO also delivered some remarks via video link. The Second and last day of the event hosted three working sessions. The event came to a conclusion with a statement on “Sfeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage and Building Resilience to Climate Change”.
