In 2009, the Asian Cultural History Program begins the second year of a major research and museum capacity building project, funded by BP, on the cultural heritage and archeological finds from the AGT pipeline corridors (Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey).

The mission of Asian Cultural History Program is to investigate how humans in the Asia-Pacific region have influenced, adapted to, perceived, and used their environment through time.

Since 1985, the Asian Cultural History Program has carried out research on the cultural and ecological history of Asia's diverse peoples and has worked to preserve and make more accessible existing Smithsonian resources for the study and appreciation of Asian heritage. This program has been funded entirely through corporate and private donations, and its projects carried out in collaboration with Asian counterpart institutions.

The NPLG and Smithsonian Institution are partners and have tight contacts since 2007 after the Memorandum on Collaboration was signed.