India, Dec. 8 -- Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Sunday set the tone for a week of deliberations on the 20th session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (Unesco's) Intergovernmental Committee for the 'Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage' at the Red Fort from December 8 to 13.

Addressing delegates at the inaugural ceremony, Jaishankar said the meeting was taking place in a country whose cultural practices had shaped knowledge systems over centuries. He noted that India, as a founding member of Unesco, had pushed for cooperation in education, science and culture as the basis for international understanding.

He described intangible heritage as a participatory cultural domain "o...