Varanasi and Jaipur to be part of the UNESCO Creative Cities network: President

Two Indian cities (Varanasi and Jaipur) has been declared to be part of the UNESCO Creative Cities network, this is for the first time two Indian cities got this recognition.

The Prime Minister’s constituency Varanasi and Rajasthan’s capital Jaipur have made it to the network in the categories � City of Craft and City of Music. The Director General UNESCO on Friday declared Varanasi and Jaipur under its Creative Cities Network.

The Creative Cities Network is currently formed by 116 Members from 54 countries covering seven creative fields: Crafts & Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Music and Media Arts.

About UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN)

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was created in 2004 to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development. The 116 cities which currently make up this network work together towards a common objective: placing creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their development plans at the local level and cooperating actively at the international level.

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network is pleased to welcome the following cities within its seven creative fields (Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Media Arts and Music):

Adelaide (Australia) – Music
Al-Ahsa (Saudi Arabia) – Crafts and Folk Art
Austin (United States of America) – Media Arts
Baghdad (Iraq) – Literature
Bamiyan (Afghanistan) – Crafts and Folk Art
Bandung (Indonesia) – Design
Barcelona (Spain) – Literature
Belém (Brazil) – Gastronomy
Bergen (Norway) – Gastronomy
Bitola (The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) – Film
Budapest (Hungary) – Design
Burgos (Spain) – Gastronomy
Dénia (Spain) – Gastronomy
Detroit (United States of America) – Design
Durán (Ecuador) – Crafts and Folk Art
Ensenada (Mexico) – Gastronomy
Gaziantep (Turkey) – Gastronomy
Idanha-a-Nova (Portugal) – Music
Isfahan (Iran [Islamic Republic of]) – Crafts and Folk Art
Jaipur (India) – Crafts and Folk Art
Katowice (Poland) – Music
Kaunas (Lithuania) – Design
Kingston (Jamaica) – Music
Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo) – Music
Liverpool (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) – Music
Ljubljana (Slovenia) – Literature
Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of the Congo) – Crafts and Folk Art
Lviv (Ukraine) – Literature
Medellín (Colombia) – Music
Montevideo (Uruguay) – Literature
Nottingham (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) – Literature
Óbidos (Portugal) – Literature
Parma (Italy) – Gastronomy
Phuket (Thailand) – Gastronomy
Puebla (Mexico) – Design
Rasht (Iran [Islamic Republic of]) – Gastronomy
Rome (Italy) – Film
Salvador (Brazil) – Music
San Cristóbal de las Casas (Mexico) – Crafts and Folk Art
Santos (Brazil) – Film
Sasayama (Japan) – Crafts and Folk Art
Singapore (Singapore) – Design
Tartu (Estonia) – Literature
Tongyeong (Republic of Korea) – Music
Tucson (United States of America) – Gastronomy
Ulyanovsk (Russian Federation) – Literature
Varanasi (India) – Music