Expert Meeting for the Serial Transnational World Heritage Nomination “Silk Roads: Fergana – Syrdarya Corridor”

The UNESCO Expert Meeting for Preparation of the Serial Transnational World Heritage Nomination “Silk Roads: Fergana – Syrdarya Corridor” will take place in Kyzylorda (Kazakhstan) on 14 November 2016. This Expert Meeting aims to continue the close consultation and coordination between Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan for the preparation of the “Fergana-Syrdarya Corridor” World Heritage nomination dossier and will continue to draw on the expertise and practical experience of UNESCO staff and Silk Roads experts.

The Expert Meeting will work towards the harmonization of the knowledge and the analysis of the component sites proposed for inclusion in the Silk Roads nomination dossier. In particular, detailed discussions are expected regarding the potential attributes of Outstanding Universal Value for all the individual sites that make up the proposed Silk Roads Heritage Corridor and the “Fergana – Syrdarya” Heritage Corridor as a whole. This discussion will be undertaken with a view to enhancing the cohesion between each component site of the “Fergana-Syrdarya Corridor”, but also between this particular corridor and other established and/or proposed corridors in the Silk Roads network.

During this meeting, the Secretariat and Working Group in charge of drafting the final version of the nomination dossier shall be elected. It is also expected that a detailed work plan will be put forward by the end of the meeting.

The organisation of this meeting has benefited from the close collaboration between the National Commission of Kazakhstan for UNESCO, the Kazakhstan National World Heritage Committee, and UNESCO (UNESCO Cluster Office in Almaty and World Heritage Centre), with generous financial support from the Administration of Kyzylorda Region (Kazakhstan) and the UNESCO/Japanese Funds-in-Trust Project: ‘Support for Silk Roads World Heritage Sites in Central Asia (Phase II)’. The meeting has called for up to 50 participants including representatives from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, UNESCO, and selected international experts.