The validation and vigorous promotion of human and cultural pluralism has been termed as the ultimate goal of the Silk Road project, which is financed by His Highness the Aga Khan.

Speaking during the launch of the Silk Road Festival in Washington on Wednesday, the Aga Khan said that a new force of stability is what the world needs at the moment. The Imam (spiritual leader) of the Ismaili Muslims said that the search for such a force was particularly essential in the new countries of Central Asia.

"The inherent pluralism of their societies is an asset. In a wider sense, it can be a means for expanding the frontiers of global pluralism. This is a goal with which we should all associate," he said.

Noting that it was the main link between the civilisations of Asia and Europe before products and ideas spread to the New World of the Americas, US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who attended the launch, pointed out that Central Asia's Silk Road was "more than an image of past glories.

"The countries of Central Asia are once again joining the nations at either end of the Silk Road on a path to a better future for all.

"The region’s security, stability and prosperity depend on critical political and economic reform," he observed, "but the Silk Road is once again a living reality."

In the shade of a canvas replica of Samarkand’s Registan Square on The Mall between the Capitol and the Washington Monument, the Aga Khan joined Mr Powell and senior government leaders, who included Senators Edward Kennedy and Sam Brownback and renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma in lighting a lamp to symbolically inaugurate the Smithsonian Folklife Festival produced in collaboration with the Silk Road Project Inc. The Aga Khan is the main financier and partner of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.

The Festival organised by the Smithsonian Centre for Folklife and Cultural Heritage is, for the first time in its 36-year history, dedicated to a single theme: "The Silk Road: Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust."

This year's festival features a living exhibition of the music, crafts, culinary and narrative traditions involved in the cultural interchange between the East and the West.

Senator Edward Kennedy expressed appreciation of the role being played by the Aga Khan in education and cultural understanding.

"Now more than ever," he said, "his is a voice that needs to heard and understood."

Set on over 20 acres, the 2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival features 350 traditional artists – musicians, dancers, craftsmen, storytellers, artists, cooks, etc – from 20 nations, mainly from Eastern Europe and Asia.

The Silk Road programme illustrates connections between the cultures of Asia, Europe and America based upon historical trade routes.

It emphasises the development of many living traditions – from silk textiles to tea drinking; from stringed instruments to paper-making; noodle making to blue and white "chinaware."

The Silk Road Project, founded by Yo-Yo Ma, seeks to illuminate the Silk Road’s historical contribution to the cross-cultural diffusion of arts, technology and musical traditions and support to innovative collaborations among outstanding artists from the lands of the Silk Road and the West.

Through the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the lead funder and creative partner of the Silk Road Project, seeks to preserve and revive the traditional music of Central Asia and enhance its role thorough providing financial resources, technical assistance and organisational support directly to individuals and organisations in the region.

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture is one of the agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). It covers architecture, education and music in Central Asia.

It has recently begun two major cultural restoration and urban revitalisation projects in Kabul, Afghanistan: the Mausoleum of Timur Shah and the Bagh-e-Babur gardens.

In collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Trust’s Education and Culture Programme has developed ArchNet, an Internet-based network that will provide students and professionals around the world with an accessible resource on architecture, urban design and related issues such as restoration, conservation and housing design and construction.

ArchNet has established a computer laboratory and held courses in computer-aided design at the Tajik Technical University in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.

The Aga Khan Humanities Project for Central Asia, based in Dushanbe, is working with scholars from the region and abroad to design humanities curricula for universities and schools in Central Asia.

The AKDN has launched a number of successful initiatives in Central Asia that include agrarian reform, education, infrastructure, healthcare, micro-credit, small enterprise development and cultural revitalisation.

The AKDN is a group of private, non-denominational development agencies and institutions that seek to empower communities and individuals, often in disadvantaged circumstances, to improve living conditions and opportunities.

Established by the Ismaili Imamat (office of spiritual leadership) and working in over 20 countries, the Network’s underlying impulse is the ethic of compassion for the vulnerable in society and its agencies and institutions work for the common good of all citizens, regardless of origin, gender or religion.