Guwahati: Varanasi was proposed as the first-ever SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital for the years 2022–2023. Vinay Kwatra, the foreign secretary, announced the development during a press conference at the 22nd Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit on Friday in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
“The nomination of Varanasi as the first ever SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital will promote tourism, cultural and humanitarian exchanges between India and the SCO member Countries. It also underlines India’s ancient civilizational links with Member States of SCO, especially the Central Asian Republics,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
Several events will be held in Varanasi under this cultural outreach programme. Guests will be invited from the SCO member states to participate in these events. “These events are expected to attract Indologists, scholars, authors, musicians and artists, photojournalists, travel bloggers and other invited guests,” the MEA stated. The move will give a boost to tourism in the holy city of India.
Notably, the Dushanbe SCO Summit in 2021 established the rules for the designation of the SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital with the goal of fostering cooperation between the SCO Member States in the areas of culture and tourism. The SCO Summit 2002 took place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on September 15 and 16. After the 2019 Bishkek summit in Kyrgyzstan, it was the first summit to take place in person. The chiefs of state of the SCO nations, India, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, attended the summit. The meeting also voted to grant Iran and Belarus