DUSHANBE, March 12, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Activists from the Union of Tajiks in Russia (Union) are making preparations for celebration of the Navrouz holiday in Moscow on March 21, the Union press service reports.

This year, the Union is responsible for general coordination, preparation and holding of the federal-level Navrouz festivities in Russia.

The Union chairman Abdullo Davlatov says three commercial and governmental organizations from Russia and Tajikistan have already given their consent to support the festive events.  “We are currently conducting negotiations on delivery of ethnographic products from Tajikistan,” Davlatov said.

We will recall that the United Nations General Assembly on February 23 recognized the International Day of Nowruz (in Tajik Navrouz), a spring festival of Persian origin.  According to the preamble of the resolution on the International Day (document A/64/L.30/Rev.2), Navrouz, which means new day, is celebrated on March 21, the day of the vernal equinox, by more than 300 million people worldwide as the beginning of the new year.  It has been celebrated for over 3,000 years in the Balkans, the Black Sea Basin, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and other regions.  The Assembly called on Member States that celebrate the festival to study its history and traditions with a view to disseminating that knowledge among the international community and organizing annual commemoration events.