TEHRAN – Sixty writers and poets from 22 countries will gather in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe to attend an international forum on Noruz aiming to strengthen and promote cultural ties between the countries that observe Noruz.

Entitled the “International Forum of Writers of the Noruz Community”, the forum has been organized by the Writers Association of Tajikistan and will be running from March 18 to 24, Tajik Ambassador to Tehran Nematullo Emomzoda said Sunday in a press conference held in Tehran.Hushnag Ebtehaj, Mohammad Shafei Kadkani, Alireza Qazveh and Fatemeh Rakei, as well as President of ECO Cultural Institute (ECI) Iftikhar Husain Arif are among the Iranian scholars expected to attend the forum, the ambassador said.Other scholars are coming from Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, United States, Canada, France and several others, he added.The ambassador also explained that a variety of programs, meetings, exhibits and book fairs have been arranged during the forum.“Noruz in Literature and Art of the World” is the first meeting to be held on March 19, while the next day the forum will open in Nowruz Palace in Dushanbe with the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, in attendance.The participating guests will be invited to attend an official Noruz celebration ceremony in the Nowruzgoh Complex on March 21, he added.In addition, cultural visits and tours to the different regions of Tajikistan have been arranged as side programs. The guests will visit the tomb of Abu Abdullah Jafar ibn Mohammad Rudaki (858-941), who is widely regarded as the father of Persian poetry, in the city of Panjakent, the ambassador said.An exhibition of Tajik books, paintings and handicrafts are also included in the program, he concluded.Noruz, the ancient celebration of the Iranian New Year, beginning on the first day of spring, was registered on UNESCO’s List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009. Noruz had been proposed for registration by Iran, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Kyrgyzstan.The UN General Assembly at its 64th Session in 2010 ratified the resolution by consensus and declared 21 March of each year as International Day of Noruz.Photo: A statue of Persian poet Rudaki, Tajikistan, DushanbeRM/YAWEND