Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - In early February 2020, the largest in Asia international handicraft fair “Surajkund Mela” will be held in the Indian state of Haryana. The partner country of this large-scale cultural event will be Uzbekistan, Dunyo reports. 

The "Surajkund Mela - 2020" is scheduled for 1-16 February 2020. For Uzbekistan, as a partner country, the festival provides a good opportunity to widely demonstrate achievements in the national craft sector and the tourism industry.

The festival will bring together artisans from India and over 50 countries. The annual number of visitors to the festival is about 1.5 million people. Thus, Surajkund Mela is considered one of the largest handicraft festivals in the world.

“The choice of Uzbekistan as a partner country for Surajkund Mela is not accidental,” says Vijay Vardhan, deputy minister of tourism for the state of Haryana, head of the festival’s organizing committee. - At the invitation of Uzbekistan in September 2019, we with a large delegation participated in the Kokand International Handicraft Festival. This was a very large event, both in terms of content and in terms of structural design and organizational aspects. We were sincerely impressed by the huge attention paid in Uzbekistan to the support of the traditions of craftsmanship and the comprehensive development of this industry. In addition, during our trip to Kokand, we reached an agreement with the Hunarmand Association on establishing partnerships between the Kokand international handicraft festival and the Surajkund Mela festival.

At the festival-festival "Surajkund Mela - 2020", the artisans of Uzbekistan will be allocated the bulk of the exhibition area free of charge. Along with this, as part of the participation of the delegation of Uzbekistan, the festival provides for the organization of a series of events dedicated to the cultural heritage of the Uzbek people: “Day of Uzbek Culture”, “Day of National Cuisine of Uzbekistan”, a demonstration of the Ferghana Fantasy collection by the famous Indian designer Ritu Bury, and performances by masters of art Uzbekistan and others.

Rita Bury, who is also the Ambassador for Tourism and Culture of Uzbekistan in India, in an interview with Dunyo, stressed that the participation of Uzbekistan in the festival “Surajkund Mela” as a partner country will be an important contribution to the wide promotion of the country’s great cultural potential.

- In October 2019, Uzbekistan became a partner country of the prestigious cultural event “Luxury Symposium”, which was organized in Delhi. Presented at the event, products of national applied art of Uzbekistan, presentations of Uzbek participants caused a real sensation. Therefore, in India, with great interest, they expect the participation of artisans of Uzbekistan at Surajkund Mela, she said.

It should be noted that the festival "Surajkund Mela" is held annually by the Ministry of Tourism of the State of Haryana with the assistance of the Ministries of Tourism, Culture, Textile and Foreign Affairs of India.