DUSHANBE, December 8, Asia-Plus  -- Two Tajik handicraft products have received the UNESCO Seal of Excellence certificate.

Last weekend, UNESCO and the Central Asian Crafts Support Association, CACSA, announced the winners of the 2007 Seal of Excellence for Handicraft Products in Central Asia, official website of the UNSECO Cluster office Almaty, Kazakhstan said.

Award certificates were handed out to winning entries during a ceremony at the annual Central Asian Crafts Fair, held at the Central State Museum in Almaty December 1-2.

The Seal of Excellence was awarded to 37 products. Sixteen winning entries were from Kyrgyzstan, two from Kazakhstan, six from Iran, two from Tajikistan and eleven from Uzbekistan. All awarded products were exhibited at the Crafts Fair.

One hundred twenty designs ranging from traditionally woven textiles to ceramics and silverware were submitted from six Central Asian countries (Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) for this year''s program. 

Of 12 designs submitted by Tajikistan submissions, two, including ceramic set of Suhrob Saidov and silver set of Niyozali Eshbouriyev, received the Seal of Excellence certificate.   

A wall calendar with the 2007 Seal-winners will be published by UNESCO and CACSA for 2008. The products are listed on the websites of the UNESCO Offices in Bangkok, Beijing, New Delhi and Almaty.  They are also shown at Results of the Seal of Excellence for Handicrafts Program in Central Asia for 2007.   

The original Seal-winning handicrafts from each year''s competition are on permanent exhibit in the CACSA exhibition room, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.