The Vietnamese delegation at the 24th session of the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention in Paris on November 22 - 23, 2023 (Photo: VNA) Firstly, the year saw the highest number of mutual visitsbetween Vietnam and UNESCO, contributing to deepening bilateral relations,optimising the knowledge and resources from the organisation for the country’sdevelopment.
Secondly, 2023 witnessed historical milestones in Vietnam’smultilateral external relations at UNESCO, demonstrating the internationalcommunity’s confidence and support to Vietnam’s ability of making contributionsto and management capacity at global multilateral institutions, said the formerambassador, underlining that for the first time, Vietnam has undertaken positions infive key management mechanisms of UNESCO at the same time, including three Vice Chair positions.
Thirdly, Vietnam won many titles and a large number ofVietnam’s heritages were honoured at UNESCO during the year. With therecognition of Ha Long Bay-Cat Ba Archipelago world natural heritagesite, the addition of Da Lat and Hoi An cities to the UNESCO Creative CitiesNetwork, and the honoring of the progenitor of Vietnamese traditional medicine,Hai Thuong Lan Ong Le Huu Trac, Vietnam has so far won 65 UNESCO titles. Last year,Vietnam also successfully repatriated the seal “Hoang de chi bao” (Treasureof the Emperor), the imperial seal of the Nguyen Dynasty.
Fourthly, in 2023, Vietnam continued to make important contributions to shapingstrategic issues and global policies with the hosting of the first UNESCOinternational conference on harnessing the values of UNESCO titles forsustainable development in Ninh Binh.
Fifthly, last year also saw the organisation of many important events ofVietnam at UNESCO headquarters, contributing to promoting and spreading culturalvalues as well as the image of the nation and people of Vietnam among international friends. The three nights of Vietnamese Heritage at UNESCOhighlighted the rich tradition, diverse culture and the depth of Vietnameseculture, sending out the message of a dynamic country in reform and integrationwith rich tradition and strong national identity, stated Van.
Regarding measures to promote the values of UNESCO titles and heritage foreconomic development and vice versa, the former Permanent Representative ofVietnam to UNESCO said that the experience of Vietnam and other countriesshowed that in order to harmonise preservation and development, it is necessaryto enhance public awareness of conserving and promoting values of titles, whileimproving the State management efficiency over the heritage throughcompleting the legal document system, and designing plans for preserving and promotingthe titles along with paying greater attention to the role of communities and people.
At the same time, it is necessary to speed up digitaltransformation in heritage management and exploitation, diversifying heritagecommunications and education methods, strengthening regional, national andinternational connectivity in protecting and empowering cultural heritage witheffective exploitation of economic aspects of the heritage in order to increasetheir contributions to socio-economic development, stated Van.
In her opinion, at the UNESCO, Vietnam should focus on five major tasks - actively proposing ideas and initiatives and optimising UNESCO's policies in realising national targets; continuing to make the Vietnam-UNESCO partnership deeper, moresubstantial and effective; engaging in the building and submitting dossiers of Vietnamese heritage forUNESCO titles to create more resources and encourage sustainable socio-economicdevelopment models in localities; continuing to show strong performance inimplementing the country’s positions in five key management mechanisms ofUNESCO; and pioneering in popularising the image of the nation, people andculture of Vietnam to the world, Van underlined./.
VNA
