BEIJING – China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Cultural Heritage Forum was held inUrumqi, Xinjiang, to strengthen trilateral exchanges in field of culturalheritage protection and expand tripartite cultural cooperation.
More than 20 officials and experts from three countries attended the forumand conducted extensive exchanges and discussions on archaeologicalresearch, protection concepts, protection measures and developmenttechnologies of cultural heritage, and the development direction of futurecultural heritage protection and inheritance, according to a report of CRIon Monday.
Zhang Zhizhong, First Secretary of the Asian Department of the ChineseMinistry of Foreign Affairs pointed out in his opening speech that China,Pakistan and Afghanistan had a rich and splendid cultural heritage.
This forum is one of the pragmatic cooperation projects under the dialoguemechanism between the foreign ministers of three countries, he added.
As an important event in the field of cultural exchanges among the threecountries and part of the “Asian Cultural Heritage Protection Action”, thisforum aims to strengthen the friendly exchanges between the three countriesin the field of cultural heritage protection and expand the tripartitecultural cooperation.
In his speech, Xie Bing, Secretary of the Party Committee of the ChineseCultural Heritage Research Institute, said that China’s cultural heritagewas diverse and had achieved successes in the protection and management ofcultural heritage, theoretical research on conservation and restoration,research and development of materials and processes, and the constructionof a protection standard system.
He hoped to use this forum to share experiences with scholars inAfghanistan and Pakistan, discuss future exchanges and cooperation, andstrength to solving key issues in the protection and use of Asian culturalheritage.
Archaeological expert Rashik Amer of Pakistan’s National Department ofHistorical and Cultural Heritage pointed out in his speech that as the homeof ancient civilizations in the world, all three countries had a largenumber of historic sites and cultural heritages, and they were also facingtheir own challenges in the protection of cultural heritage.
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The representative from Afghanistan’s National Museum of the Ministry ofInformation and Culture said that Afghanistan was an important hub on theSilk Road. It has experienced different dynasties in history, leaving abrilliant and rich cultural heritage.
However, in recent years, due to the war, many cultural sites have beendamaged, a large number of precious cultural resources have been lost, anda large number of collections have been damaged.
Therefore, Afghanistan hopes to receive help from other countries,including China and Pakistan, and hopes that the forum will have a positiveimpact on the trilateral cooperation in the protection of cultural relics.
The forum provided a platform for scholars and experts from the threecountries, and provided an opportunity for everyone to share their viewsand promote cultural cooperation between the three countries.
The forum was co-sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs andthe State Administration of Cultural Relics, and co-organized by the ChinaCultural Heritage Research Institute, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous RegionCultural Relics Bureau, the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’sGovernment of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and the Foreign AffairsOffice of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
