SAARC cultural ministers to mull heritage panel

One of the main items on the agenda of the upcoming SAARC cultural ministers' meeting here is to form a heritage committee, on the lines of Unesco, to preserve and conserve various heritage sites and monuments not protected by the international body, india's culture ministry said Tuesday.

India is hosting the third meeting of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) cultural ministers' meet from Sep 25-26 where delegates from eight member states will revisit the SAARC agenda that was formulated in their last meeting in Colombo in 2006.

"The meetings would focus on ways to bolstering maintenance of heritage of the member-countries and improving cultural cooperation," Joint Secretary, Culture, V.Srinivas said in a conference.

"We would also be deliberating about establishing a SAARC heritage committee that will identify and conserve heritage sites and monuments not listed by Unesco," he added.

Srinivas also said that the meeting aims to promote multilateral cooperation in the field of cultural relations by South Asia in the backdrop of a common heritage linking the eight-member group that includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

"A highlight of the meeting will be adoption of Delhi declaration to chart a roadmap for cultural ties in the region for 2014-2017," he said.

"We would also like to promote SAARC culture online by digitising oral narratives, folklores, Abooks and documenting performing arts and paintings, among other things," he said.

Citing the example of culture ministry's ambitious project: National Mission on Libraries to modernize and digitally link public libraries across India, Srinivas said that they would be using this medium to promote literature from SAARC nation.

Culture Minister Sripad Yesso Naik will be holding bilateral meetings with the culture ministers of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Maldives. In addition, the cultural secretaries of Bhutan and Nepal would also be calling on Naik.

The two-day summit will be followed by a SAARC cultural festival on traditional dance Sep 26-28.