The Minister of Culture Shamsiddin Orumbekzoda, heading a Tajik delegation, left for Paris on October 29 to attend the 39th session of the UNESCO General Conference, according to the Ministry of Culture press center.
While in Paris, Mr. Orumbekzoda will also hold talks with representatives of France’ ministries of foreign affairs and culture as well as the Guimet Museum to discuss preparation of exposition of Tajik historical exhibits.
Recall, Tajik historical exhibits are expected to be displayed in the Guimet Museum in Paris in 2019. This issue was discussed at a meeting of the Minister of Culture Shamsiddin Orumbekzoda with France’s Ambassador to Tajikistan Yasmine Gouedard that took place here on October 26.
The Guimet Museum (Musée Guimet) is an art museum located in Paris, France. It has one of the largest collections abroad of Asian art.
Founded by Émile Étienne Guimet, an industrialist, the museum first opened at Lyon in 1879 but was later transferred to Paris. Devoted to travel, Guimet was in 1876 commissioned by the minister of public instruction to study the religions of the Far East, and the museum contains many of the fruits of this expedition, including a fine collection of Chinese and Japanese porcelain and many objects relating not merely to the religions of the East but also to those of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. One of its wings, the Panthéon Bouddhique, displays religious artworks.
Some of the museum's artifacts were collected from Southeast Asia by French authorities during the colonial period.
From December 2006 to April 2007, the museum harbored collections of the Kabul Museum, with archaeological pieces from the Greco-Bactrian city of Ai-Khanoum, and the Indo-Scythian treasure of Tillia Tepe.
Meanwhile, the 39th session of the UNESCO General Conference kicked off on October 30 and will run through November 14.
The General Conference consists of the representatives of the States Members of the Organization. It meets every two years, and is attended by Member States and Associate Members, together with observers for non-Member States, intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Each country has one vote, irrespective of its size or the extent of its contribution to the budget.
The General Conference determines the policies and the main lines of work of the Organization. Its duty is to set the programs and the budget of UNESCO. It also elects the Members of the Executive Board and appoints, every four years, the Director-General. The working languages of the General Conference are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
