The Sector of Culture and Communication at the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) is holding a training workshop in Dushanbe, the capital city of Tajikistan, on safeguarding cultural heritage, in cooperation with Tajikistan National Commission for UNESCO and ICESCO. The session benefited 25 specialists and professionals in the field of cultural heritage.

The three-day workshop kicked off Wednesday, February 15, 2023, and aims to promote the productivity of professionals working in the field of cultural heritage protection and build their capacities in terms of the mechanisms of inscribing cultural heritage, filling in forms and preparing national lists and catalogs to contribute to the preservation of the cultural depository of the people of the Islamic world.

During the opening session of the workshop, attended by Mr. Mirza Sharif, Director-General of Cultural Heritage at the Ministry of Culture in Tajikistan, Ms. Zulfiya Burkhon, Secretary-General of Tajikistan National Commission, commended the inscription of two cultural elements from Tajikistan on the Final List of Heritage in the Islamic World and 17 historical and cultural elements on the Tentative List. The Secretary-General also commended the Organization’s efforts to promote cultural and natural heritage in Muslim countries in national and international spheres and ensure its sustainable preservation and protection.

For his part, Mr. Bilel Chebbi, Expert at the Sector of Culture and Communication, stressed the importance of the workshop, which aims to pool efforts to safeguard and promote Tajik cultural heritage. The ICESCO representative also highlighted the vision of the ICESCO Center for Heritage in the Islamic World, which aims to increase the pace of inscribing heritage sites and cultural elements on international heritage lists, notably ICESCO’s Islamic World Heritage List.