BANGKOK, Dec 23 (TNA) – The government’s committee promoting and conserving cultural heritage resolved to nominate Songkran Festival to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Culture Minister Itthiphol Kunplome said the committee would submit the proposal to the cabinet for approval within next February and send it to UNESCO within the following month.
“It should enter the listing process of UNESCO in 2022 at the soonest,” he said.
Concerned officials would study the possibility of the joint listing of the Songkran traditional festival with China and other countries in the Mekong river basin, the minister said, adding Tom Yum Kung or Thailand’s spicy prawn soup would be nominated next.
According to Mr Itthiphol, UNESCO will consider Thailand’s nomination of “Nora, Dance Drama in Southern Thailand” as intangible cultural heritage in 2021.
This month, UNESCO included Thailand’s “Nuad Thai, traditional Thai massage” in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and Thai authorities would organize special events to promote it from this month to next August, the minister said. (TNA)
