28 October 2019 - Minister of Culture of Montenegro Aleksandar Bogdanović recently met earlier with Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan Republic Abulfas Garayev in Baku.
The meeting discussed possibilities of strengthening cooperation between the two countries in the field of culture, since the bilateral relations between Montenegro and Azerbaijan are friendly and content.
In this regard, the two officials expressed their satisfaction with the fact that the cooperation between cultural institutions are intensified. This, as it was highlighted, primarily refers to the joint work of the National Library of Montenegro "Đurđe Crnojević" and Azerbaijan National Library within the Conference of European National Librarians and Montenegro’s Cinematography and the Azerbaijan Davlat Film Fund.
Both sides particularly emphasised the significance of the work of the Cultural and Economic Centre of Azerbaijan in Podgorica, stressing that there is a mutual interest in organising diverse programs in the field of culture in the future.
Minister Bogdanović stated that so far, cooperation is a good basis for the coming period and invited Minister Garayev to visit Montenegro and on that occasion, as he added, to sign the Programme on Cooperation between Ministries of Culture of the two countries.
Minister Garayev highlighted that he supports the mentioned initiative, proposing that during his visit to Montenegro, a programme of joint activities in the field of culture should be conceptualised in detail. Furthermore, he emphasised that he was pleased that Azerbaijan artists were increasingly represented in Montenegro and expressed the expectation that Montenegro’s artists would be as present as possible on the Azerbaijani cultural scene.
Minister Bogdanović also discussed cooperation in the field of affirmation of the cultural heritage of the two countries. He pointed to the listing of the Azerbaijani rug on the UNESCO List of Intangible Heritage could be a useful experience for Montenegro, mainly since there is an initiative to apply for the development of Bihor rug on the list above, reports Ministry of Culture of Montenegro.
In this context, Minister Garayev stated that a presentation of Bihor rug could be organised at the Baku Museum of Carpeting, with the Azerbaijani entities fully ready to transfer experience regarding the application process of their rugs to the UNESCO list.
"During the discussion, we concluded that there is an exceptional space for strengthening cultural cooperation. It is of particular significance that the first steps in this field have already been made, but I believe that a period of intensive activities is yet to come. On this path, I suggested Minister Garayev sign the Cooperation Programme of our Ministries of Culture during his visit to Montenegro. Thus we formally start broad cooperation, starting with some common trades belonging to the intangible heritage of both countries, to film, literature and other fields," Minister Bogdanović noted.
Charge d' Affairs of Montenegro to Azerbaijan Željko Radulović also attended the meeting.
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