India’s Varanasi first SCO tourism, cultural capital
Dhaka: Indian city of Varanasi, parliamentary constituency of the country's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been selected as the first-ever tourism and cultural capital of nine-nation security grouping Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) for 2022-2023.
The decision was taken at the 22nd Meeting of SCO Council of Heads of State in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on September 16, said reports. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the Summit.
"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 civilisational links with member-states of SCO, especially the Central Asian republics," the Indian PMO said in a statement.
The SCO consists of China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgystan as full members.
Under the framework of this major cultural outreach programme, a number of events will be hosted in Varanasi during 2022-23, for which guests from SCO member-countries will be invited to participate.
These events are expected to attract Indologists, scholars, authors, musicians and artists, photo journalists, travel bloggers, and other invited guests.
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