At the meeting, Phong thanked UNESCO for its support to Vietnam in general, and Hanoi in particular, over the years, especially during the city’s bid to join  UNESCO’s network of creative cities.

Overview of the meeting
 

According to Phong, Hanoi is among cities in Vietnam with a rich tradition of history and culture, in which the number of cultural and historical heritages in Vietnam accounted for one third of the nation.

Hanoi is also the country’s socio-economic hubs and home to 70% of universities and colleges in Vietnam.

For the past years, Hanoi has been realizing its commitments as a member of UNESCO’s creative cities, Phong said, adding some of those have been incorporated into the city’s vision for development until 2030, with a vision to 2045 which identifies tourism and cultural industry as the foundation and solution for Hanoi to pursue sustainable development.

In addition, Hanoi also issued a resolution on cultural industry development and opened new creative spaces not only in the downtown but also suburban areas.

Phong expected Hanoi to soon invest in the formation of a creative design center to promote creativity and innovation.

With international cooperation on cultural development being not only a desire of Hanoi, but also of the world, Phong called for UNESCO to support Hanoi in a number of fields  to realize its commitments made when the city joined  the Network of Creative Cities; exchange experience and experts to help Hanoi successfully host the forum of creative cities by 2023; assist Hanoi in promoting the value of traditional craft villages; share experience on mobilizing social resources for cultural heritage preservation.

Phong expected UNESCO to help Hanoi in boosting value of cultural heritages, especially the Thang Long Citadel. In this regard, the UNESCO could support Hanoi to hold an international conference on promoting the value of Thang Long Citadel, scheduled to take place in September 2022; aid Hanoi in preserving the Kinh Thien Palace; and educate the young generation on values of cultural and historical heritages.

UNESCO’s representative Christian Manhart agreed with Phong’s proposals, saying these are also the desire of UNESCO to turn culture into one of the driving forces for sustainable development.

Manhart also stressed his commitment to closely cooperating with Hanoi in promoting the global value of the Thang Long Citadel.