Tibet autonomous region has decided to make culture one of the region's pillar industries by the end of 2020, according to a press release of the region's cultural department on Thursday.

Tibet is enriched with various cultures, including traditional crafts such as thangka painting, Tibetan incense, Tibetan paper production, weaving, sculpture, carving and metal forging.

As one of the region's recent actions on culture preservation and development, the regional government issued a culture development plan for the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) two months ago.

The preparations for the plan began in 2014 with support of the Ministry of Culture.

Zhou Hongyang, the deputy head of the Tibet Culture Department, said, "In the future, we will push the work of traditional cultural crafts with more opened mind and more pragmatic measures."

Zhou said the region will work on three key measures. First of which is respecting the dominant status of the tradition and culture inheritors, and carrying out activities of traditional crafts in daily life.

"The second is to formulate an implementation plan about the traditional cultural revitalization. The measures need to be detailed so as to make all levels of units to perform the work," said Zhou Hongyang.

Norbu Tsering, the director of the Culture Industry Office of Tibet Culture Department, said the region has added culture in the region's planning outline of social development and national economy throughout the next five years.

"Boosting cultural industry and striving to turn culture industry as one the region's national economic pillar industry by 2020," Norbu Tsering said.

"The region will improve the systems of Tibetan unique culture industry, modern cultural market."