TEHRAN (Fars News Agency) – Turkmenistan is scheduled to host the next international ceremonies to celebrate Nowruz (the beginning of Iranian New Year), Turkmen Minister of Culture Gunca Mammedowa announced on Saturday.

Speaking at the first cabinet meeting in 2013, Mammedowa declared his country plans to hold the celebrations in the capital city of Ashgabat. The minister said that different cultural and artistic programs will be held on the sidelines of the event.

Also at the cabinet meeting, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said that the international Nowruz celebrations should be organized at the best and highest level and in accordance with contemporary cultural tendencies.

The 3^rd International Nowruz Celebrations were held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on March 25, 2012 with Tajik President and his Iranian, Afghan and Pakistani counterparts in attendance. Iran first organized the International Nowruz Celebrations. The second International Nowruz Celebrations were held in Tehran in 2011.

The International Day of Nowruz was registered on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on February 23, 2010. Nowruz, which coincides with the first day of spring on the solar calendar, is mostly celebrated in Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan.