World Forum on Culture and Cultural Industries in Italy

September 26, 2009

Gulnara Karimova headed the delegation of the Fund Forum, which participated in the World Forum on Cultural Industries "Creativity, innovation and excellence: from crafts to the luxury industry ", held in the Monza, Italy from September 24 to 26, 2009. The purpose of the Forum is to demonstrate the potential and the dynamism of the culture sector that is measured not only in terms of its percentage of GDP, but also through its influence and ability to transform societies.

Gulnara Karimova elucidated the experience Uzbekistan in the field of national heritage, national crafts support, culture and arts development, in her report on «The significance of traditional handicrafts in the modern cultural soft power strategy». She made the speech during the first session titled How to encourage excellence in the crafts trades.

The Fund Forum created and directed by Gulnara over five years has gained a considerable experience in this field. The Funds projects became a model for talent identifying, creative individuals support and development of culture and art in general. The effectiveness of the Funds activity was recognized not only in the country but also abroad. In 2007, the Foundation became the first public organization in Uzbekistan, becoming an official partner of UNESCO. Later Memoranda of Understanding were signed with the British Council, the Swiss Cooperation Office, China's largest public foundation named Soong Ching Ling, National Museum of Korea and other international organizations.

The Foundation supports national handicrafts in three main directions:

• continuing the generations succession, awarding grants for preserving and developing traditional forms of arts;
• preservation of the spiritual dimension and further promotion of the traditional crafts, also by means of cultural exchange;
• efforts on promotion the handicrafts tradition of Uzbekistan on international cultural circles.

This experience of the Fund Forum on cultural projects development caused genuine interest among the participants of the UNESCO Forum. During the discussions agreements had been achieved on promotion on international cooperation and cultural exchanges.

The Forum was attended by about 200 representatives of cultural organizations from around the world. Among the participants were figures of culture, politics, heads of public organizuations, businessmen, artisans and other creative individuals. During the three-day forum have been covered such areas as: the issues of traditional crafts support, cooperation with masters from provinces, innovations in creativity, women's role in the development of applied arts, cultural issues in the context of globalization.

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