The Closing Ceremony of the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development – MONDIACULT 2025 – was held in Barcelona on 1 October 2025. The ceremony featured a cultural performance followed by the reading of the Youth Forum Conclusions, interventions by civil society, adoption of the outcome document, oral report of MONDIACULT 2025, and final remarks.

 

India was represented at the Closing Ceremony by Ms. Amita Prasad Sarbhai, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Culture, who attended on behalf of Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of Culture, Government of India. The Minister served as the Co-Chair for the Asia-Pacific Region during MONDIACULT 2025.

The delegation of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, to MONDIACULT 2025 was led by the Minister of Culture, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, and comprised Ms. Amita Prasad Sarbhai, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Culture; Ms. Priyanka Chandra, Director, Ministry of Culture; Shri Vishal Gupta, Private Secretary to the Minister of Culture; and Shri Deepak Sharma, Under Secretary, representing the Ministry of External Affairs.

The Minister of Culture participated in the Opening Ceremony and the Ministerial Plenary Session of MONDIACULT 2025 on 29 September 2025.

Ms. Amita Prasad Sarbhai, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Culture, along with Ms. Priyanka Chandra, Director, Ministry of Culture, and Shri Deepak Sharma, Under Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, met with the delegation of the Netherlands headed by Ms. Carlien Schrijvershof, Deputy Permanent Delegate of the Netherlands to UNESCO; Ms. Chrustianne Matthijssen, Deputy Director General of Media; and Ms. Nathalie Kroner, Policy Coordinator for International Affairs, Ministry of Culture, Education and Science of the Netherlands. They also met Shri Sipiriano Nemani, Director, Ministry of Culture, Fiji. The discussions sought support for the multinational inscription of 'Chhath Mahaparv' under UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage framework.

The Closing Ceremony marked the successful conclusion of MONDIACULT 2025, with Member States reaffirming culture as a global public good and adopting the outcome document, which sets the roadmap for strengthening cultural policies and international cultural cooperation.

 

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Sunil Kumar Tiwari

pibculture[at]gmail[dot]com

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