New Delhi: India and Britain Wednesday inked an agreement on cultural cooperation for the next five years.
Culture Minister Shripad Yesso Naik and visiting British Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Sajid Javed signed a MoU on Cultural Cooperation which will form the bulwark of the Indian-British cultural relations for the period 2014 to 2019 after talks here.
The agreement envisages collaboration in the field of museums, libraries, archaeology, performing arts, capacity building programmes, skill development, joint publications, archives, cinematography and literature, said an official statement.
Naik briefed Javed on the priorities of the new government, which include enhanced efforts for preservation of monuments, preservation of Buddhist heritage, infrastructure development at archaeological sites, enhanced people to people contact through Festivals of India abroad for projection of India’s soft power diplomacy and promotion of tourism, improved records management in government and the National Missions on Libraries and Manuscripts.
Both sides identified future areas of collaboration, which include collaboration between the Indian National Museum and British Museum, development of a conservation policy and applied conservation techniques and training, digitization and improved records management practices and conservation of built heritage.
They agreed to work together for achievement of these common objectives in the coming months.