Reconnecting maritime cultural landscapes across Indian Ocean

New Delhi, June 21 (IANS) The culture ministry has launched a project that aims to re-establish communication between countries across the Indian Ocean, an official statement said Saturday.

Culture ministry secetary Ravindra Singh launched "Mausam" Friday at the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee at Doha, explaining that "ne of the main deliverables of this project is nomination of maritime cultural landscapes across the Indian Ocean as a trans-national property on the World Heritage List of UNESCO", an official release said here.

The project endeavours to position itself at two levels

"At the macro level, it aims to re-connect and re-establish communications between countries of the Indian Ocean world which would lead to an enhanced understanding of cultural values and concerns," said the statement.

"At the micro level, the focus is on understanding national cultures in their regional maritime milieu," it added.

According to the statement, the central themes that hold this project together are those of cultural routes and maritime landscapes that not only linked different parts of the Indian Ocean, but also connected the coastal centres to their hinterlands.