DUSHANBE, April 1, 2015, Asia-Plus -- What is the true age of Dushanbe? Where to see the Declaration of Cyrus the Great and the Buddha Statue in nirvana? For what has the capital of Tajikistan entered Guinness Book of Records?  Where to buy high quality and cheap handmade national clothes, jewelry, and souvenirs? What are Dushanbe gardens and parks known for?  The first Dushanbe Cultural Tour visual informational brochure answers all these questions.

According to International Trade Center (ITC) Tajikistan, the brochure, available online in English, has been developed jointly by the "Tourism Development Center" NGO and the Tajikistan Union of Craftsmen under the International Trade Centre project funded by the Government of Switzerland within its Trade Cooperation Program (TCP) in Tajikistan.

The brochure includes detailed information, descriptions and pictures of museums, theatres, art galleries, parks, and main sightseeing places of Dushanbe.

Its authors, ITC national consultants Bahriddin Isamuddinov and Abdurahmon Nazirmatov, believe that  this brochure will fill in the information gap, which is one of the weaknesses identified in the study on tourism sector opportunities in Tajikistan prepared by ITC last year.

Mr. Isamuddinov says that one of the main ideas of the ITC project is to link  the tourism sector with the handicraft sector: “Both tourism and handicrafts sectors are essential for the Tajik economy. Crafts produced in national styles are the hallmark of the country. Patterns, clothing styles and colors become recognizable and increase the popularity of the country.”

In the framework of this initiative Tajik tourism companies were guided to the Dushanbe sightseeing places and art-galleries to build connections between two sectors in February this year.