A total of 24 envoys from countries in various continents recently interacted with the artists and craftsmen engaged in traditional crafts such as rugs making, pashmina, pottery and others. Showing a keen interest in the splendid craft culture of Jammu and Kashmir the delegates from countries  such as  France,  Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Bolivia, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, EU, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Bangladesh,Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and others  interacted with local artisans of the valley still practising the crafts like pashmina on the rugs and calligraphy.  They were accompanied by the officials from handicrafts and tourism department of J & K to give them a brief of the state's sumptuous craft heritage. In an interaction with an aspiring socialpreneur,  Saima Shafi.    popularly known as Kral Kroor or potter girl, the ambassador from France, and Cuba namely Emmanuel Lenain and Oscar J Martinez respectively  expressed surprise that no women folk in the Kashmir valley were not involved in pottery. The Spanish representative showed some keen interest in embroidery and Pashmina besides the tourism infrastructure. Besides this they interacted with other  artists like social activist Renzu Shah and Shahnawaz, who does calligraphy on Pashmina carpets. Ever since the abrogation of the special status on August 5, 2019  which was erstwhile bestowed upon the  state and its  bifurcation into two union territories by carving out Ladakh, it is the  third delegation that has landed in Jammu and Kashmir. Cover image by Mapsofindia