Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) -- Today, on 3 August, the I international geotourism forum ended in Shakhrisabz, following which UNESCO expressed its readiness to support the initiative of Uzbekistan to create the first Geopark in the country and proposed to hold a joint conference on this topic next year.

This was stated by the head of the Department of natural Sciences in Central Asia (UNESCO) Christina Tovmasyan at a briefing on the Kitab Geological reserve, the territory of which is planned to be transformed into a modern Geopark, and for the first time in the years of independence to open the protected area of Kitab for tourists.

"I would like to note that this forum is an incentive and will serve as an impetus for the continuation of discussions on the development of geotourism, I see here also a great interest in the development of the Geopark. At the end of this event, I would like to say that UNESCO is ready to support Uzbekistan’s initiative to create a Geopark," Christina Tovmasyan told the forum participants.

"During the three days, a lot was said by the forum participants about geoparks and geotourism, but I see a lot of questions here, and we have not received answers to some of them. Naturally, it is worth noting that in the CIS countries there is no global network of UNESCO geoparks, as well as the experience that colleagues from this network can share. Therefore, from our side there is a proposal – in cooperation with Uzbekistan to hold a conference on geoparks next year", – concluded the representative of UNESCO.

At the end of the event, the participants of the forum signed a Protocol on measures to establish mutual cooperation in the field of environmental and geological tourism, exchange of experience, creation of new tourism products and enrichment of existing programs. Earlier, we reported that the state Tourism Committee together with the state Committee of Geology plan to open for tourists a unique monument of nature in the Kitab geological reserve – section Zinzilban, which is a prehistoric monument of the appearance of the Earth from the Oceans and the birth of the first life on land.