MOCST's Minister Nguyen Van Hung: Vietnam is always responsible and actively conduct UNESCO's mission

Update: 12/09/2022

(TITC) - A ceremony was held in the northern province of Ninh Binh to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (Convention 1972) with the theme “The next 50 years: World Heritage - a resource for resilience, humanity and innovation”.

The Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam Vuong Dinh Hue, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and leaders attended the ceremony (Photo: MOCST)

The event was co-organised by the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MOCST), Ninh Binh Provincial People's Committee, and the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO, saw the attendance of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, MOCST’s Minister Nguyen Van Hung, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay among others.

The active and responsible member to conduct UNESCO’s mission

Mr. Nguyen Van Hung - Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, gave a remark at the Opening ceremony, Convention 1972 is a solid foundation for heritage protection, is the only international convention that combines the protection of cultural and natural heritage, has far-reaching effects, is studied and applied by member states in the protection and management of World Heritage.

As a member of UNESCO organisation since 1976, officially ratifying the accession to the Convention 1972 on 19th October 1987, over the past 35 years, Vietnam has been recognized by the international community as a responsible and reliable member that has always performed well the provisions of the Convention.

With massive, rich and unique cultural resources, Vietnam has chosen and filed 8 typical cultural and natural heritage sites and inscribed them in UNESCO's World Heritage List. Since joining the 1972 Convention until now, Vietnam has 5 times as a member of the Executive Council of UNESCO and one of 21 members of the World Heritage Committee for the 2013-2017 term.

Vietnam has made significant strides in the field of conserving and promoting the value of cultural heritage and World Heritage, which is reflected in the country's legislative framework relating to cultural heritage, stated MOCST’s Minister Nguyen Van Hung.

The fact that the Law on Cultural Heritage and the Government's Decrees regulating the protection and management of World Cultural and Natural Heritage in Vietnam have been developed in a manner that is close to the spirit of the 1972 Convention, is not only the basis for perception and opinion, but also creates an important legal hallway for the management, protection, and promotion of World Heritage values in Vietnam.

MOCST’s Minister Nguyen Van Hung speaking at the Opening ceremony (Photo: MOCST)

With that spirit, in the period 2021 to 2025, cooperation between Vietnam and UNESCO will continue to be strengthened through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to improve management capacity and strengthen the network of World Heritage Sites, in order to contribute to national and local development strategies.

In the 35 years since the country's participation in the 1972 Convention, the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO has become the fastest connection channel, bringing the highest efficiency in promoting activities to improve capacity and expertise in heritage conservation and promote international cooperation and heritage education. World Heritage Sites in Vietnam have been restored, refurbished, and resisted degradation, while preserving outstanding global values, authenticity and integrity in a sustainable way; human resources to manage World Heritage from central to local level have gradually arranged; resources to protect the World Heritage are prioritised, maximally mobilised; The World Heritage Management Centre, agencies, organisations, communities, and local businesses participate in protection and restoration (contributing effort, funding, enthusiasm) as well as sharing the benefits of the World Heritage, creating sustainable social cohesion; local communities directly benefit from tourism activities and services at the World Heritage.

In 2019, World Heritage sites in Vietnam welcomed over 18.2 million visitor arrivals to visit, learn and experience, with total revenue from tickets and services reaching VND 1,800 billion. This is a “living” proof of promoting the value of the heritage, affirming the active and effective contribution of world heritage sites in Vietnam in the process of socio-economic development, creating livelihoods for the communities where the heritage is located, contribute to balance, protect the environment, strengthen peaceful and security life towards sustainable development for Vietnam and the world.

Vietnam will ensure to proceed foreign policies, international commitments to which Vietnam is a member, including the 1972 Convention, MOCST and localities are focusing on implementing the global goal of strengthening protection and ensuring the safety of World Cultural and Natural Heritage and Intangible Cultural Heritage listed by UNESCO at "National plan to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development", aiming to perform The United Nations 2030 Agenda and UNESCO Policy on the mainstreaming of a sustainable development perspective into World Heritage Convention processes, emphasised Minister Nguyen Van Hung.

According to MOCST’s Minister, the organisation of the Celebration with the theme "The next 50 years: World Heritage - a resource for reliance, humanity and innovation", shows the most active companion of Vietnam's responsibility with the international community.

Each heritage reflects the "richness and diversity" of Vietnamese culture

Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Audrey Azoulay has hailed Vietnamese authorities for fully tapping the potential of UNESCO cultural conventions.

She stated, this is a significant event to celebrate both the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Convention and the 35th anniversary of Vietnam's ratification of this Convention. Azoulay noted that in the past five years alone, UNESCO has given support to Vietnam's priority in completing its legal framework on heritage as well as inventory of intangible heritage properties.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay speaking at the Ceremony (Photo: MOCST)

After 35 years of ratification of the Convention, Vietnam has 8 heritage sites inscribed in the list of World Heritage Sites, including the complex of Hue Monuments initially registered in 1993, Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, Hoi An Ancient Town, My Son Sanctuary, Citadel of the Ho Dynasty, Imperial Citadel of Thang Long. Each of Vietnam's heritage sites shows the country's lengthy past, the richness and diversity of Vietnamese culture.

She pointed out 2 major challenges in the implementation of the Convention. In which, the first challenge is to balance development with conservation of natural and cultural heritage - a decisive issue for the preservation of the planet.

Vietnam is a country that has achieved one of the highest economic growth rates in the world over the past 20 years, but at the same time is a country that makes countless efforts to ensure that the protection of heritage is not sacrificed for development. Trang An Heritage Site has successfully combined economic development and sustainable tourism while respecting nature.

This is the reason why UNESCO chose Trang An, along with three other world heritage sites, to pilot a project on sustainable tourism to enhance benefits for local communities, especially women, emphasised, Ms. Audrey Azoulay.

She further stated, in today's world, we need to ensure that such efforts to reconcile tourism and sustainable development with nature conservation are made at all World Heritage sites in Vietnam to preserve the beauty of each of these sites, as well as for all World Heritage Sites around the globe.

Climate change serves as the second challenge. Last July, Vietnam approved the National Strategy on Climate Change for the period to 2050.

UNESCO accompanies Vietnam in this field, affirming UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, the disruption of climate change and the loss of biodiversity is not only a threat to Earth's habitats but also to culture. According to the latest research, one out of every five World Heritage sites is facing the risk of climate change.

Therefore, we all have to act and act swiftly. We must step up efforts if we want to achieve the common goal of protecting 30% of our planet by 2030… UNESCO wants to strengthen cooperation in building the capacity of heritage site managers, to better predict the long-term consequences of climate change and to deal with emergencies more effectively.

Heritage preservation is not out of our hands. It is a prerequisite to ensure that our world does not fall apart further. It's the connection between our past and our future. We must place culture and heritage with the importance they deserve. We need to see cultural policies as powerful levers for national actions, as in the example in Vietnam, and as the exemplary model of Trang An. That is the message I want to convey today. This is also the message that UNESCO will defend later this month at the 2022 Mondiacult Conference organised by UNESCO and Mexico, attended by 140 member countries, including Vietnam, emphasised UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.

Mr. Ha Kim Ngoc - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO speaking at the Ceremony (Photo: MOCST)

Mr. Ha Kim Ngoc - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO said during 35 years of Vietnam's participation in the convention, the Commission has made tremendous efforts to promote capacity building, international cooperation and education for heritage preservation.

Vietnam has expressed agreement with UNESCO in guiding the activities of the Convention for the next 50 years with the theme World Heritage is the source of reliance, humanity and innovation; as well as key issues on climate change and heritage conservation, sustainable tourism, digital transformation, recovery from post-pandemic of Covid-19.