Invited by the Minister of Culture of Mongolia, MACHIDA Daisuke, Director-General of IRCI, and YU Le, Associate Fellow, took part in the “Nomads” World Cultural Festival held in Nalaikh District, Ulaanbaatar during 18–20 August 2023. This festival was organized on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) to promote nomadic culture and develop cooperation among countries sharing nomadic cultural traditions.

The two members of IRCI attended the Consultative Meeting “Shaping the Future of Living Heritage: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the 2003 Convention and Prospects for Collaborative Engagement” held on 19 August, together with other ICH-related national and international organizations in Asia, such as the UNESCO Beijing office, ICHCAP in the Republic of Korea, and IICAS in Uzbekistan. In the meeting, IRCI explained its research projects and collaboration with countries in Inner Asia including Mongolia. Besides presentations and reports, the participants discussed and adopted the “Nomadic Living Heritage Safeguarding” Declaration to further safeguard and promote nomadic culture as ICH. IRCI was able to exchange information and opinions on the safeguarding of ICH in this region with other organizations, and learned about and experienced nomadic culture through performances by ICH practitioners representing different Mongolian provinces during the festival.

IRCI has been cooperating with organizations and researchers in Central Asia and Mongolia on many research projects. Central Asia has been the major geographical focus of the project “Sustainable Research Data Collection for ICH Safeguarding”, and information on research in this region has been extensively collected in cooperation with partner organizations. This festival was a significant opportunity for IRCI to expand its collaborative ties in this region.