DUSHANBE (Asia-Plus) — The second international forum entitled Nowruz Dushanbe — Centre for Tourism and Cultural Ties is to be held in Dushanbe on 22 March. According to the Dushanbe City Council, a resolution to this effect has been signed by the Mayor of Dushanbe, Rustam Emomali.

Dushanbe at night

(Credit: khovar.tj)

To organise the forum, the Dushanbe administration has reportedly provided about 428,000 somoni.

Representatives of CIS member countries have been invited to participate in the forum. So far, Russia, Uzbekistan and the CIS Executive Committee have confirmed their participation in the upcoming event.

The first international forum Nowrouz Dushanbe — Centre for Tourism and Cultural Ties gad been held in the Tajik capital on 22 March 2019.

Dushanbe has been declared the cultural capital of the CIS for 2021. In addition, the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) in October 2019 selected Dushanbe as the ECO tourism capital for the years 2020-2021. A decision on this was adopted at the 3^rd ECO Ministerial Meeting on Tourism held in the northern Tajik city of Khujand on 3 and 4 October 2019. The meeting was preceded by the 5^th High Level Expert Group (HLEG) meeting on tourism. The meetings were hosted by the Tourism Development Committee under the aegis of the Government of Tajikistan. Delegations from Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan (host), Turkey and Uzbekistan as well as the ECO Secretariat delegation attended the meetings.

According to the CIS Executive Committee website, Dushanbe currently boasts 37 hotels, 57 restaurants, 4 national teahouses, 32 entertainment centres, 25 markets and 91 shopping centres, 26 souvenir shops, 17 parks, 1 zoo, 5 recreation reservoirs, 4 cultural palaces, 7 theatres, 10 museums, 16 libraries, 306 medical facilities that cater to hundreds of locals and foreigners every day.

The city has 109 travel agencies. The official tourism website of Dushanbe provides the electronic map of touristic destinations and places of attraction.