Hamedan is is host to UNESCO 6th Meeting of the Coordinating Committee of the Serial World Heritage Nominations of the Silk Roads
On 26 June 2019, a meeting was held at the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO to discuss the 6th Meeting of the Coordinating Committee of the Serial World Heritage Nominations of the Silk Roads, which will be held in Hamedan from 23 September to 1 October 2019. The meeting was attended by Dr. Hojatollah Ayoubi, Secretary General of the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO, Dr. Amir Roshan, Deputy Secretary-General for Communications and Partnerships and Head of the Communications Department of NatCom, Dr. Bahman Namvar Motlagh, Head of the Culture Department of NatCom, Dr. Samaneh Zamani, Head of the Social and Human Sciences Department of NatCom, Dr. Elahe Ataei, Deputy Secretary-General for Culture, Arash Amini, Head of Presidency and International Affairs Department, Abbas Sufi, Mayor of Hamedan, Mahmoud Araghi, Deputy Governor of Hamedan and Kamran Gordan, head of the city council of Hamedan.
At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Amir Roshan, Deputy Secretary-General for Communications and Partnerships and Head of the Communications Department of NatCom, said: “the workshop on Inter-religious Dialogue and Intercultural Dialogue in the Countries of the Silk Road, the Second International Conference on Spirituality on the Silk Road, the Annual Conference of the Focal points of the silk Road, Silk Road Calligraphy Peace Festival, Assembly of Mayors of the Silk Road’s Cities and Global Congress on Modifying Water Consumption Pattern and Demand Management ,will take place on the sidelines of 6th Meeting of the Coordinating Committee of the Serial World Heritage Nominations of the Silk Roads.
Dr. Hojatollah Ayoubi, Secretary -General of the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO, said: “regarding the SilkRoad, there has been strong competition between different countries and in recent years China has been successful. This country has developed many of its projects using the Silk Road brand. Even many filmmaking companies use the Silk Road brand to get credit from the government. Other countries also use the Silk Road to develop their cities and promote tourism and prosperity”.
Dr. Ayoubi continued:” countries, such as Iran, China, South Korea and Japan will participate at the 1st Silk Road Calligraphy Peace Festival.”
“Prominent personalities and distinguished scientists will attend the Meeting, and the regional office of the Silk Road, and all of us, will help Hamedan in organizing the event”, said the speaker.
Abbas Sufi, Mayor of Hamadan, said: “in 2018, Hamedan was selected as capital of Asian tourism and was host of the world tourists’ meeting, which was an incredible experience.”
Mr. Gordan, head of the Hamedan City Council said: “We believe that we can introduce Hamadan to the world as one of the tourism cities, and the 6th Meeting of the Coordinating Committee can facilitate development of tourism in Hamedan.”
Mahmoud Araghi, Deputy Governor of Hamedan, said: “in 11th cabinet of Islamic Republic of Iran, great emphasis is placed on tourism development in Hamedan. Hamedan is not an agricultural or industrial province; it is, in fact, a province with great tourism capacities.”
Araghi continued: “to promote tourism in Hamedan, we need to put emphasis on the national and international inscription of the ancient and historical sites of this province. In this regard, great actions have been taken; for example, Lalejin was selected as the World Pottery Capital by the World Crafts Council.”
Dr. Namvar Motlagh, Head of the Culture Department of NatCom, emphasized the importance of formation of a working group for the 6th Meeting of the Coordinating Committee and said: “Hamedan has great tourism capacities and can be a creative city in the related field.”
