SAARC nations to establish heritage committee

SAARC nations are set to establish a heritage committee to identify and preserve monuments considered to be of major importance in South Asia but not listed in world heritage list.
The list will be documented once the committee is constituted, Joint Secretary in the Culture Ministry V Srinivas told reporters here.
The issue would figure prominently at the upcoming meeting of the SAARC Culture Ministers here on September 25, he said.
"We are looking at building a consensus on establishment of the committee at the meet," he said.
The third edition of the SAARC Culture Ministers' summit is being held after a gap of six years and will be attended by all member nations to discuss among others an initiative to have a SAARC digital library to promote literary works.

The meeting will also adopt a Delhi declaration to chart a roadmap for cultural ties in the region for 2014-17, Srinivas said.

It would focus on revisiting the SAARC agenda for culture that was formulated in 2006 by the culture ministers, promotion of people to people exchanges programmes and preservation and conservation policies, he said.
Holding of cultural festival in major SAARC countries would also be explored.
Culture Minister Shripad Naik will inaugurate the meeting and hold bilateral talks with his counterparts from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Maldives.
On the initiative to have digital library for the SAARC countries, Srinivas said India was coordinating with several SAARC countries in this regard as it also proposes to set up a national digital library.

The SAARC digital library will promote SAARC literature, SAARC poetry and major narratives available on SAARC, he said.
The summit will be followed by a SAARC cultural festival on traditional dance during September 26-28 a seminar on 'intangible cultural heritage' in context of SAARC in which 60 artistes will participate.