On the morning of July 3, in Ninh Binh province, the International conference on harnessing UNESCO designations for sustainable development in Vietnam was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO and Ninh Binh People’s Committee.
The conference was attended by leaders of UNESCO, leaders of UNESCO’s National Committees of some countries in the Asia-Pacific; leaders of central ministries and branches; leaders of provinces, cities and localities that have UNESCO designations and more than 200 delegates are domestic and international experts. Representative of Dak Nong province, Ms. Ton Thi Ngoc Hanh – Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People’s Committee – Director of the Dak Nong Geopark Management Board, Ms. Khuc Thi Thoi – Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism – Deputy Director of the Dak Nong Geopark Management Board, and Foreign Affairs Office attended the program.
At the opening ceremony of the Conference, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism – Mr. Nguyen Van Hung affirmed that sustainable, creative and inclusive development has become the goal of many countries around the world, and Vietnam is not an exception. Vietnam has identified sustainable development on culture as the spiritual foundation of the society, which is both a goal, an important strength and motivation for the development of the country. The organization of the International conference on harnessing UNESCO designations for sustainable development in Vietnam demonstrates the most active companionship on the responsibility of Vietnam and the international community in preserving cultural and natural heritage sites registered by UNESCO for sustainable development from the UNESCO’s point.
Minister Nguyen Van Hung reviewed Vietnam’s heritages that have been registered by UNESCO, including: 8 World Cultural and Natural Heritages, 15 Intangible Cultural Heritages, 9 Documentary Heritages, 3 Global Geoparks and 11 World Biosphere Reserves.
Ms. Ton Thi Ngoc Hanh, Vice Chairwoman of Dak Nong Provincial People’s Committee (Dak Nong is a locality with the Dak Nong UNESCO Global Geopark) expressed her thanks to the Vietnam National Committee for UNESCO, central ministries and agencies, experts have supported Dak Nong to successfully complete the ISV20 and the first revalidation for Dak Nong UNESCO Global Geopark in 2023. To perform well conservation of heritage values in the Global Geopark area, Dak Nong province has focused on integrating the implementation of planning tasks, submitting to the Prime Minister for approval, promulgation of Directives, and formulation of Resolutions on the conservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, short-term and long-term plans, development of schemes, projects, survey and evaluation programs related to preserving heritage values, focusing on raising awareness of the community and the role of local people, partners, … in heritage conservation; focusing on investing in developing infrastructure for tourism such as parking lots, sightseeing stops, renovating traffic infrastructure,…; selecting and adding new heritage sites in the Geopark.
At the conference, leaders of some other provinces such as Ha Giang, Ninh Binh, Quang Binh, Quang Nam and Dong Nai also shared practical experiences in preserving and promoting UNESCO designations with exploiting the potential for local tourism, service and economy development.
The conference had 03 thematic sessions, at the first session, Ms. Ton Thi Ngoc Hanh reported the presentation “Practices of preserving and promoting the UNESCO designations for sustainable development in Vietnam”, focusing on Vietnam as a country full of potential for sustainable development opportunities, towards improving the quality of life, meeting social needs while preserving and promoting cultural – natural heritages and traditional values for sustainable development.
Within the framework of the Conference, the delegates visited the World Heritage Sites of Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, Tam Chuc Scenic Spot, and met representatives of the local community.
