A delegation from the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) composed of Mr. Najib Rhiati, Director of Culture, Dr. Abdelilah Benarafa, Cultural Advisor to Director General, and Mr. Bilel Chebbi, Programme Specialist at the Directorate of Culture, in Tashkent, held a coordination meeting with officials from the Uzbek Ministry of Culture on the celebration of Bukhara as the Asian region’s Capital of Islamic Culture for 2020.

The meeting centered on the arrangements to be made to implement the programmes of the celebration. In this regard, the Uzbek officials invited Dr.Salim M. AlMalik, ICESCO Director General, to visit Uzbekistan and attend the official launch of its ceremony. They also lauded the new start ushered in by ICESCO just after the adoption by the 40^th session of Executive Council (Abu Dhabi, UAE, 29-30 January 2020) of the Organization’s New Strategic Vision and expressed their country’s willingness to contribute to the Development Waqf Fund launched to ensure sustainable funding of programmes and projects.

In addition, the two parties agreed to establish a global forum on Islamic civilization in Bukhara, Tashkent, and Samarkand, and invite several culture ministers and intellectual and cultural figures from the Islamic and beyond to attend the launch of the Celebration. They also suggested to set up a ICESCO Chair on Imam Al Bukhari at the University of al-Qarawiyyin to be funded by Uzbekistan.

In another vein, the meeting focused on the inscription of many heritage sites and elements of tangible and intangible heritage in Uzbekistan on the Islamic World Heritage List (IWHL) and examine the organization of an international conference on the role of translation in bringing cultures together and a training workshop in Uzbekistan for the staff working in the field of heritage.

Next, ICESCO delegation visited the  construction site of the Center of Islamic Civilization and, at the request of the Center’s director, provided some suggestions relevant to the design of the exhbition space of the the manuscript of Uthman Quran and the exhibition galleries of purchased artifacts and the history of Islamic civilization. The Center will be inaugurated at the close of the Celeberation.