On January 20, 2024, a regular meeting of the National Commission of Turkmenistan for UNESCO was held under the chairmanship of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov.
Members of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, heads and representatives of relevant ministries and state agencies of the country took part in the meeting.
Opening the meeting, R.Meredov summed up the activities of the Interdepartmental Commission for UNESCO for 2023, and also noted the priority areas for its further work.
During the meeting, it was noted that during 2023, 4 international documents were signed between Turkmenistan and UNESCO, and measures were taken to preserve the rich cultural and natural heritage of the Turkmen people to increase its significance at the international level.
Particular attention was paid to joint efforts to include the national values of Turkmenistan on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In this context, in September last year, the transnational sites “The Great Silk Road: Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor”, as well as the “Turan Temperate Deserts” and the national nomination “Ahal-Teke horse breeding art and traditions of horse decoration” were included in the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
It was noted that thanks to targeted work to increase the country’s representation in the structural divisions of UNESCO, Turkmenistan was elected as a member of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee on Physical Culture and Sports (CIGEPS) for 2023–2027.
Along with this, within the framework of cooperation with UNESCO through the UNITWIN and Associated Schools Network programs, UNESCO departments were opened in two higher educational institutions of the country, and 6 secondary schools in Turkmenistan were included in the UNESCO Associated Schools network. It is noteworthy that in 2023, the Youth Organization of Turkmenistan named after Magtymguly became an official member of the UNESCO Global Youth Community
During last year the collection of manuscripts of the Turkmen philosopher and poet Magtymguly Fragi was included in the UNESCO International Memory of the World List, and the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the birth of the classic of Turkmen and world literature was added to the list of UNESCO memorial dates in 2024-2025.
Participants exchanged views on important issues on the agenda of the meeting and drew attention to the importance of preparing for events planned to be held jointly with UNESCO in 2024.
In the framework of the meeting, the draft work plan of the National Commission of Turkmenistan for UNESCO for 2024 was also reviewed.
