National Silk Road Committee Starts Working Today

The nonprofit entity was founded by the KFU World Cultural Heritage Center.

This is another step in the Silk Road project which was recently taken up by the University. The current situation in the proceedings was discussed on October 12th; the meeting was headed by Head of the Revival Foundation, First President of Tatarstan, State Counsellor Mintimer Shaimiev.

Vice-President of ICOMOS Russia Rafael Valeev told about the preparations currently undertaken by the participants. He presented some of the results of Tatarstani archaeologists’ work and added, “International research centers-participants of the UNESCO Silk Road project are very interested in cooperating with Russia and Tatarstan as sides which joined the nomination. There is no entering the European segment of the Silk Road without Russia’s involvement. In their turn, Russia and Tatarstan also cannot fulfill their plans without partnerships. Aside from forums and meetings, we also initiate important visits. For instance, the KFU Cultural Heritage Center welcomed Professor Guo Zhang, Director of the ICOMOS International Conservation Center-Xi’an, in Kazan. Another important result is that KFU joined the International Institute for Central Asian Studies as an associate member and the supervisor of the continental part of the Silk Road – the Steppe Road.”

Director of the KFU Institute of International Relations, History and Oriental Studies Ramil Khayrutdinov confirmed that the University has been actively involved in the work for some time now and is ready to proceed in accordance with the roadmap.

A national discussion called “Russia in Global Cultural and Environmental Heritage” with Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky will take place in Kazan on October 27th – 28th. The Silk Road Program will be touched on there as well.

The Russian part of the Silk Road involves dozens of heritage objects in about 40 regions of the country. Thus, it will not only become the biggest heritage object in Russia so far, but will also play into the government’s strategy to make it into the top-5 in the world by the number of heritage objects by 2030.