Minister for Education, Culture and Science Yo.Otgonbayar has sent a letter to UNESCO about issues that are troubling the minds of Mongolian people. In his letter, the Minister said the Mongolian Government regrets the way objects of Mongolian national culture have been registered in the World Cultural Heritage list under another country.

In 2005, the long song was registered as “Mongolia’s traditional long song” jointly with China. In 2009, Mongolia’s khuumii was registered under China. The khuumii originated among Mongolian people who resided in the Altai region. Mongolian and foreign scholars have written that khuumii was introduced into Inner Mongolia, a part of China, much later.

Mongolia has sent relevant documents to the UNESCO Secretariat to put Khuumii and Naadam on the list of Cultural Heritage items in 2010.

Otgonbayar has expressed the hope UNESCO will review Mongolia’s request and take a fair decision before registering cultural heritage items. Culture is a very important part in a nation’s life and the Mongolian Government believes the UNESCO registration should be preceded by detailed study and evaluation of claims by neighboring countries.