A certificate on the inclusion of the craft of making a dutar (musical string instrument), performing musical art on it and the art of bakhshi (musician/singer) in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO delivered to Ashgabat. Today, Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov reported it to President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov during a working meeting.

Having heard the information with satisfaction, the head of state warmly congratulated the participants of the meeting and all Turkmen citizens on this significant event, the Information Program "Watan" of the Turkmen Television reported.

The Turkmen leader gave instructions to prepare a plan of upcoming events at the national and international level dedicated to this event.

To recap, the decision to include the craft of making dutar, performing music on it and the art of bakhshi in the above-mentioned Representative List was made unanimously during the 16th Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO, held in Paris on December 13-18, 2021.

UNESCO is a specialized agency of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage includes those traditions and forms of self-expression that are of value to all mankind. Since the beginning of time, dutar has been an integral part of the Turkmen culture and is used in all major genres of Turkmen music and singing. From Turkmenistan, the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List previously included the folk epic "Gyorogly", the folk dance "kushtdepdi", folk singing and the art of carpet weaving.