A Hungarian master attentively places his basketry utensils while Konobaeva Venera, a weaving master from Kyrgyzstan, packs up after a weaving workshop. Nearby, other masters from Uzbekistan and Hungary prepare for their time slots in the FAO stand at the Festival of Folk Arts, which runs through 20 August at the Buda Royal Palace in Budapest.

They are here not only to showcase the best of their skills, but also to set an example of how handicraft skills can advance rural development.

Participants themselves in other workshops earlier this year, they not only developed their own skills in handicrafts but have been prepared to pass on to others their newfound skills in basketry, weaving, embroidery, husk weaving and felting.