On November 14, 2025, the first meeting of Central Asian ministers of culture was held in Tashkent. The session was attended by the heads of the cultural ministries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, as well as the Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan as an honorary guest, El.kz reports.

Welcoming the  colleagues, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva noted that holding the first meeting of Central Asian culture ministers is an important milestone in the history of cooperation among the region’s countries and reflects the shared understanding of the need to elevate this partnership to a new qualitative level.

“Today, our task is to agree on concrete measures and initiatives that will give additional momentum to the development of our cultural space,” the minister emphasized.

Aida Balayeva proposed the creation of a Central Asian Cultural Calendar — a document that would help systematize the region’s key cultural events. She also suggested launching the Central Asian Cultural Tour Platform, a mechanism that would annually support regional touring programs, retrospective exhibitions, and interregional film screenings, with mandatory digitization of archival films.

Special attention was paid to developing scientific and historical exchange.

“It would also be useful to establish large-scale and mutually beneficial cooperation on the exchange of archival material copies across Central Asian countries — including scientific, documentary, and literary sources. For our part, we are ready to share the materials we have on your countries. Such an exchange would make it possible to join efforts in studying the history and culture of the region, fill existing gaps, uncover new aspects of specific events, and evaluate the contributions of prominent figures from   objective perspective,” Balayeva said.

Concluding her speech, the Minister proposed exploring the possibility of creating a unified digital platform for Central Asia — a modern marketplace for creative industries that would serve as a space to promote artisans, designers, jewelers, and other representatives of creative entrepreneurship.

Following the meeting, the parties signed a protocol outlining the main tasks and directions for further cooperation. As part of the document, the parties also agreed to consider creating a working group to develop a “Central Asian Cultural Brand.”