In 2001 it got this status from UNESCO! The city of Samarkand was an inevitable part of the Silk Road and Amir Timur began setting first contacts with Europe from there 600 years ago! It was the Internet of news in Central-Asia, which was conquered by Alexander Makedonsky and Chingiz-Khan, visited by Marco Polo as well! Many khans were changing one another and the city was a capital of Uzbekistan too!
This year the city just hosted the first ever Central-Asian European Union Summit, where among other priorities, the importance of people-to-people contacts was discussed on a serious operational level! This was coincided with the first International Climate Summit, a very serious move in the region, where climate challenges are burning and very high on the local agendas of many!
© photography Yelena van Kharitonova
But also international agenda with a brand new initiative: “ARAL. CULTURE. SUMMIT”, which is wrapped-up today at Aral the Sea! This emerging initiative, committed to the wellbeing of the Aral Sea region through art, culture, design, music, cultural heritage and diplomacy, had been put into practice by Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation, where the First Lady of Uzbekistan Madame Saida Mirziyoyeva holds the helm of this truly unique happening!
© photography Yelena van Kharitonova
After the Central-Asian-EU Summit, where the relationship between the two regions became strategically important and sealed with different agreements and memoranda, the Aral Culture Summit (as a part of already mentioned International Climate Forum) looks like a refreshing new version of similar initiatives in the world, where diverse discussions, exhibitions, musical and gastronomic events as much as crafts market took place, paying attention for the development of a circular economy via cultural expressions and crossovers!
© photography Yelena van Kharitonova
And after this high-level events, Samarkand is looking forward to receiving the 43d UNESCO’s annual session on its soil, thanks again to all the efforts the First Lady of Uzbekistan, which she has done recently and signed an agreement in Paris about its session, which will be hosted in Samarkand, for the first time outside of Paris in 40 years! Kudos and huge respect for those who made it possible, highlighting the efforts of this Central-Asian state in the field of culture!
© photography Yelena van Kharitonova
My Central-Asian European Creative Alliance is deeply interested in such initiatives and already preparing its second Central-Asian European Creative Forum, which will take place in September 2025 in Brussels, where we will discuss different aspects of such events, related to European and Central-Asian cultural and creative industries.
As for now I look forward to continue our venture in making creatives from the region more visible and setting programs myself!
