In continuation to the collaborations of Mana Naqsh Heritage Institute for Art & Culture with UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office, the ceremony of the "World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development" hosted by UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office in collaboration with Mana Naqsh was held, was held on Wednesday, May 18, 2016, at Niavaran Palace. This one-day ceremony started in the morning and continued until the evening of the same day and was accompanied by various cultural and artistic programmes. Esther Kuisch Laroche, the director of UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office, ambassadors, high-ranking officials of the government of Iran and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, the deputies and directors of the Organization of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism, and the cultural activists attended the ceremony.
In 2015, the cities of Isfahan and Rasht, as the first cities in Iran, become members of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network; Isfahan as a Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art, and Rasht as a Creative City of Gastronomy. Therefore, these two cities participated in this ceremony and displayed their capabilities in their own field. Mana Naqsh, as one of the active institutes in the field of traditional arts and crafts, introduced the capabilities of Isfahan, as a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, by setting up an exhibition of the unique and luxurious traditional crafts of Isfahan. An exhibition of the local food product diversity of Rasht was also held, as another Iranian city member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, alongside the exhibitions from other countries at Niavaran Palace's garden.
The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was created in 2004 to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development. Almost 300 cities around the world that currently make up this network work together towards a common objective: "placing creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their development plans at the local level and cooperating actively at the international level." The UNESCO Creative Cities Network covers seven creative fields: Crafts and Folk Art, Media Arts, Film, Design, Gastronomy, Literature, and Music.