Celebration of the International Day of Navruz at UNESCO

On March 20, 2015, in Paris, a festive reception was held on the occasion of the International Day of Navruz in one of the ceremonial halls of the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The event was organized with the direct support of UNESCO Director-General, Madame Irina Bokova by the Permanent Delegation of Tajikistan to UNESCO in cooperation with permanent delegations of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Turkey.

Navruz event was attended by heads of diplomatic missions of foreign states accredited in Paris, permanent delegates to UNESCO and other international organizations, officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other departments of France, representatives of business, scientific and cultural circles and the media in Europe, as well as members of diaspora of organizing countries in Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy and France.

At the outset of the event UNESCO Director-General, Madame Irina Bokova made a congratulatory speech. Mme Bokova praised the role of Navruz in the development of intercultural cooperation and integration of the countries celebrating this holiday, and called Navruz as a gift of values of tolerance, respect, cultural diversity, peace and harmony.

At the ceremony were played folk songs and melodies, a film about the traditions of celebrating Navruz in a number of countries was displayed, national dishes and sweets of host countries were offered to the guests, as well as an exhibition of colorful handicraft objects and symbols of Navruz took place.

In the margins of Navruz event, a bilateral conversation was held between Permanent Delegate of the Republic of Tajikistan to UNESCO, Ambassador Rustamjon Soliev and the Director-General of UNESCO, Madame Irina Bokova, during which urgent issues of cooperation between Tajikistan and UNESCO in the fields of culture, science and education have been discussed.

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