Hanoi (VNA) –The first national conference on the preservation and promotion of culturalheritage in Vietnam was held in Hanoi on July 27, with the participation ofPrime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, head of the UNESCO Vietnam branch MichaelCroft, as well as authorities from World Heritage Site localities, culturalresearchers, and experts.

Addressing the event, PMPhuc stated that heritage sites are treasures made either by nature or during theongoing development of previous generations.

“The task shared byall of us, especially those in the cultural sector, is to revive our heritage sites,making them more appealing and bringing them to life. This duty includes the trainingof human resources serving this purpose,” he stated.

The leader stressedthat protecting and promoting the value of heritage spaces is not only theresponsibility of the State, but of the entire society. The State will createlegal frameworks and policies for the work, while the community must play thecentral role of preserving and passing on to younger generations the value oftheir heritage.

It is necessary toenhance international integration and partnership in heritage conservation andmanagement, as well as the strict implementation of commitments to UNESCO andinternational community, he said, adding that making the world’s culturalheritages more globally diverse is not only the responsibility of Vietnam, but alsoan international obligation.

He asked for theincrease of supervision and protection of UNESCO-recognised cultural andnatural heritage sites, as well as for non-geographical cultural heritage, suchas traditions and rituals.

The Government leader stressedthe need to use social resources effectively for the protection of heritagesites and the promotion of its value, creating optimal conditions for people toengage in the work and benefit from it.

He also highlightedthe necessity to harmonise tourism development with the preservation ofhistorical-cultural heritage and environmental protection, as well as thestrengthening of technology application in heritage conservation and managementand the digitalisation of data on aspects of cultural heritage.

Statistics from the Ministryof Culture, Sports, and Tourism show that Vietnam owns over 40,000 heritagesites, including nearly 10,000 sites ranked at provincial level, 3,463 at nationalstatus, and 95 of special national level.

UNESCO has recognisedeight heritage sites in Vietnam as deserving the status of World Cultural andNatural Heritage.

Under the Law onCultural Heritage and the Convention of the Safeguarding of Intangible CulturalHeritage, Vietnam has 61,669 intangible cultural heritage elements. Of this, 11have been listed as the Common Heritage of Humankind, with one in need of urgentprotection.

Following UNESCO’s WorldMemory Programme, Vietnam has seven documents deemed as Documentary Heritage byUNESCO, including three World Documentary Heritage documents, and seven thatrepresent the Heritage of the Asia-Pacific Region.

Since 2012, followingsix reviews, the PM has decided to recognise 142 national treasures. –VNA