Good afternoon, dear friends, brothers and sisters!

 I express my deep gratitude to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Venezuela for the opportunity to host the virtual congress of WPM Asia and to the Coordinating Committee of the World Poetry Movement (WPM) for inviting this significant meeting of the world literary family. Poetry is a light in the world of dreams and hopes, love and a bridge between hearts. It is poetry, like a compass star, that shows us the way to peace and tranquility and to a decent life for humanity. A bright soul, mutual understanding, wisdom, happiness and a decent life satisfy people and strengthen world peace. Poets are a symbol of the dignity of the nation and humanity. Their creations have served people for thousands of years, inspiring them to do good, strengthen friendship, brotherhood and peaceful coexistence. Well-chosen words of pen carriers play a key role in shaping the personality of a future person – a person of good will. In this context, it is important to note the works of the classics of Tajik literature Abuabdulla Rudaki, Firdousi, Mavlano Jaloluddin Balkhi, Omar Khayam and others, whose works have served humanity since the beginning of the 9th century and have been translated into many languages of the world.

The World Poetry Movement today is the center of cultural diplomacy, which, by uniting the poetic voices of the peoples of the world, has become the key to the harmonization of the world community and the preservation of ethical and moral values.

     Today we see that young people are most often used in mass riots around the world. The younger generation is the future of every country, therefore, first of all, it is necessary to direct all efforts to the correct formation of personality, education of children in the spirit of internationalism, love of reading, poetry, nature. In this regard, many large poetry contests, festivals and holidays are held annually in Tajikistan, which attract a large number of children and young people on an equal basis with adults. Each festival is unique and gives a concentrated idea of the culture, traditions and history of the area where the celebration is held. In particular, at the initiative of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, dear Emomali Rahmon, the republican contests “Wisdom of the Dawn is shining — a book”, “A Book is a light of knowledge”, “Tajikistan is my dear Motherland” are annually implemented, for which more than 119 million somoni (more than 11 million US dollars) are allocated from the presidential fund, the main prize in each The nominations are 70,000 somoni (6,800 US dollars).

   I would especially like to mention the republican contest “Wisdom of the Shining Dawn — book”, the purpose of the contest is to “increase interest in reading books, strengthen the spiritual world, activate the circle of communication between segments of the population, increase the culture of reading books.” This competition is attended by age groups – schoolchildren, students, teachers and housewives in the categories “connoisseur of Tajik classical literature”, “connoisseur of modern Tajik literature”, “connoisseur of Tajik children’s literature” and “connoisseur of folklore and world literature”.

        The World Poetry Movement in Tajikistan cooperates with almost all festivals and competitions. In particular, more than 100 of my students participated in this competition for three years, each of them read more than 250 books of prose and poetry, memorized more than 100 poems, 120 rubayats, at least 200 lines of dastan and so on. This is the main condition for participation in the competition. Every year, more than 300 thousand people take part in three rounds of this competition, most of whom are teenagers and young people.

     It can be noted that in Tajikistan it has become a custom to greet guests in verse form.

     In order to strengthen the literary friendship of the peoples of the world, I, as a national coordinator, cooperate with authors from more than 40 countries, international festivals from different continents, youth organizations Tajikistan-Russia, Russia – Italy, Russia – Austria and so on. I have translated more than 80 authors from different countries into Tajik. In 2021, I published a collection of authors of Eurasia “Let the world be full of friendship” in Russian and Tajik, in 2022 I created an anthology “Poetic Voices of the World” in world languages and translated it into Tajik for native Tajik speakers, in which 67 world authors participated.

     Culture and literature and the language of even the smallest peoples are the heritage of all mankind, and cultural diplomacy, based on world poets and writers, plays an important role in preserving this priceless world spiritual treasure and strengthening the friendship of the peoples of the world.

     From December 3 to 8, an international panel session “Diplomacy-Experience and Prospects” was held in the city of Perm of the Russian Federation, in which I participated as a speaker and national coordinator of the VPM from Tajikistan. In his speech at this event, he stressed the importance and role of the World Poetry Movement in harmonizing society. Authors from 36 countries of the world, including national coordinators Shirani Rajapaks and Nigar Hassan Zadeh, also sent video greetings and wishes.

The cable serves as a conductor of light and heat, illuminates and warms our homes, and the poet brings light and warmth to the hearts of mankind with his creativity.

       Dear friends! I want to finish my speech with the lines of the great Persian-Tajik poet of the 12th century Saadi: With your permission, I will read in the original language and the English translation will be read by our dear poet Vadim Fedorovich Terekhin.

Бани одам аъзои якдигаранд,
Ки дар офариниш зи як гавҳаранд.
Чу узве ба дард оварад рӯзгор,
Дигар узвҳоро намонад қарор.
Ту к-аз меҳнати дигарон беғамӣ,
Нашояд, ки номат ниҳанд одамӣ.

The sons of Adam are limbs of each other,
Having been created of one essence.
When the calamity of time affects one limb
The other limbs cannot remain at rest.
If thou hast no sympathy for the troubles of others
Thou art unworthy to be called by the name of a human.

Thanks for your attention