DUSHANBE, July 29, 2011, Asia-Plus -- The Second Central Asian Sub-Regional Network Meeting for Intangible Cultural Heritage (IHC) Safeguarding took place in Dushanbe on July 28.

Organized by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Center for Asia and the Pacific (ICHCAP), National Commission of Tajikistan for UNESCO, and Ministry of Culture of Tajikistan in partnership wit international organizations dealing with preservation of ICH, the meeting brought together experts from Central Asia’s nations to exchange information on the current state of affairs in preservation of national cultural heritage and discuss creation of cooperation networks between the Central Asian countries and ICHCAP, the source at the Ministry of Culture said.

The concept of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) emerged in the 1990s, as a counterpart to the World Heritage that focuses mainly on tangible aspects of culture. In 2001, UNESCO made a survey among States and NGOs to try to agree on a definition, and a Convention was adopted in 2003 for its protection.

According to the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) – or living heritage – is the mainspring of humanity''s cultural diversity and its maintenance a guarantee for continuing creativity.