On October 3, the "Volga-Caspian Corridor of the Silk Roads: Second Annual Subregional" Conference, jointly organized by the Ministry of Culture and the UNESCO World Heritage Center, with the support of the UNESCO Japanese Funds-in-Trusts
and the International Institute for Central Asian Studies, began its work at the National Museum of History of Azerbaijan.Representatives of the countries of the Caspian region—Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan—as well as experts from UNESCO, the United Kingdom, and Japan took part in the event, which was held in a hybrid format.
The conference was organized to identify the cultural heritage sites to be included in the "Transnational Nomination for the Volga-Caspian Corridor of the Silk Roads" and to discuss relevant documents with government representatives, national coordinators, and local and international experts of the 5 countries included in the corridor.
At the conference, officials from the countries involved in the project, the World Heritage Center, Japan's Teikyo University, the UK's University College London, and experts from the International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IBSAI), noted the important steps taken to document the nomination. The speakers highly appreciated the importance of the large-scale " Nomination of the Transnational Silk Road Monuments for the World Heritage List " program initiated by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. Discussions were held on the impact on trade and cultural development in the regions, countries, and communities crossed by the historic Silk Road. The importance of the program in promoting the rich cultural heritage of the Silk Road countries internationally was highlighted, noting its unifying effect not only economically but also culturally.
Later, experts from Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan gave presentations on the program.
The conference will continue until 6 October. It is important to note that since 2005, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee has been implementing a major program entitled "Nomination of Transnational Silk Road Monuments for the World Heritage List." In the first two stages of the program, two corridors were prepared for serial nomination and included in the World Heritage List. The Republic of Azerbaijan became part of the program in 2018. In the third stage of the program, the Caspian countries are working together on a joint nomination to present the third corridor to the World Heritage List.
As part of this process, sub-regional conferences are organized annually in Baku.
