Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Center Lazare Eloundou Assomo (first row, 3rd left), Ambassador Le Thi Hong Van (first row, 2nd right) and other delegates at the headquarter of the Ministry of Foreign AFfairs on March 27th. (Photo: WVR/Tuan Anh)

Ambassador Le Thi Hong Van, Head of the Permanent Representative Mission of Vietnam to UNESCO accompanied Mr. Lazare Eloundou Assomo, Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Center on his official visit to Viet Nam. In this journey, they took a tour to Vietnam’s finest cultural heritages.

Ambassador Le Thi Hong Van also took the time to share with The World and Vietnam Report about the motivations to make each “heritage diplomacy” tour a journey to remember...

A bright spot of cultural diplomacy in the past year was to ensure the country's sustainable development. What’s your opinion as Head of the Permanent Delegation of Vietnam to UNESCO?

Vietnam's cultural diplomacy is effectively making good use of UNESCO's knowledge, resources and support to preserve and promote the country's heritage values, support sustainable development for the people and the localities. Last year, we were very proud to have four more titles and heritages honored by the UNESCO, those are: Cao Lanh city (Dong Thap) recognized as a global learning city, the Art of pottery-making of Chăm people inscribed on the List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, meanwhile the UNESCO Memory of the World Regional Committee for Asia and the Pacific recognized two of Vietnam’s heritage as part of the documentary heritage of Asia and the Pacific (the Ma Nhai inscriptions on the Ngu Hanh Son Mountains in Da Nang and the Sino-Nom Documents in Truong Luu Village, Ha Tinh Province),

This not only shows the international community's appreciation for Vietnam's national cultural and heritage values, contributing to UNESCO's efforts on heritage conservation, but also create new resources and space for sustainable development in localities. Vietnam was also selected by UNESCO as one of the first 12 countries in the world to pilot the 2030 Culture Index, contributing to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. We have also enlisted UNESCO's support for the effort to repatriate King Minh Mang's gold seal, meeting the aspirations of the Government and people.

Not long after the visit to Vietnam by UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay (September 2022), Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre Lazare Eloundou Assomo has just finished an "extremely impressive visit" to our country (March 23-27). What do you think is the meaning behind this visit?

This is Mr. Assomo’s first visit to Vietnam, and also his first working trip to Asia since taking office as the Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (December 2021). It continues to mark a new development in the Vietnam-UNESCO partnership in a more substantive and effective direction.

This is also the first visit to Vietnam by a Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in 11 years. Taking place six months after the visit of Director General of UNESCO, this trip of Mr. Lazare Eloundou Assomo continues to contribute to the realization of the Vietnam-UNESCO MoU on cooperation for the 2021-2025 period.

On this trip, the Director held meetings with leaders of Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Hanoi, Quang Ninh and Ninh Binh. He also attended the international conference themed “Promoting the role of world cultural and natural heritage in sustainable development in Vietnam”. These events strongly affirmed Vietnam's commitment to continue promoting its proactive, active and responsible membership at UNESCO, especially in the work of preserving world heritage sites for future generations.

Mr. Assomo highly appreciates Vietnam's policy of always attaching importance to culture, identifying culture as the spiritual foundation of society, as a goal, resource and motivation for sustainable development.

He emphasized that, the 50th anniversary of the Convention concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage organized by Vietnam (Ninh Binh, September 2022) is the largest and most spectacular so far. He also agreed with the statement of UNESCO Director-General that Vietnam is an "exemplary example" of the harmonious model between conservation and promotion of heritage values, associated with sustainable tourism development, economic and people's livelihoods development.

With great expertises and practical experiences in the field of conservation and promotion of heritage values, Mr. Assomo believes that Vietnam has sufficient basis to well assume the role as a member of the World Heritage Committee in the 2023-2027 tenure.

Through the visit, we also continue to take advantage of UNESCO's knowledge, resources and support to preserve and promote the country's heritage values, practically support sustainable development for people and localities.

Director Assomo said that the World Heritage Center always accompanies and supports Vietnam to the best of its ability in the conservation and promotion of world heritage sites, also, it commits, within its function, to support Vietnam's world heritage nomination in the near future (such as: Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Islands, the Complex of Yen Tu Monuments and Landscapes, Oc Eo - Ba The archaeological site, Con Moong Cave...); as well as consulting and supporting the management, conservation and promotion of 8 World Heritage sites of Vietnam, especially the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long - Hanoi.

We also have the opportunity to introduce to Mr. Assomo the Ha Long World Heritage Site, Trang An Landscape Complex, Imperial Citadel of Thang Long - Hanoi, the beauty of the country, the people, the image of Vietnam that is renovated, integrated, dynamic development but still imbued with national identity, with a thousand-year history of civilization.

The Director of the World Heritage Center assessed the visit as very practical and effective, leaving unforgettable impressions and emotions and he is looking forward to returning to visit Vietnam many times.

Director of UNESCO World Heritage Center Lazare Eloundou Assomo spoke at the International Conference on promoting the role of world cultural and natural heritage in sustainable development in Vietnam held in Hanoi on March 24th, 2023. (Photo: WVR/Nguyen Hong)

Could you please share the direction of promoting cultural diplomacy and heritage diplomacy in the coming time at UNESCO?

The next two or three years are very important for the process of comprehensively and synchronously promoting Doi Moi and international integration.

In order to continue effectively implementing the outcomes of the National Cultural Conference in 2021, the Cultural Workshop in 2022, the Cultural Diplomacy Strategy to 2030, we need to be proactive, active and creative at UNESCO, focusing on the implementation of the following five groups of tasks:

First, to step up advisory and policy proposal, to take advantage of UNESCO's ideas and initiatives to support the implementation of national goals, and to contribute to the sustainable development of the country. Accordingly, it is necessary to continue to effectively implement UNESCO's global initiatives to catch up with new global cooperation trends, improve legal frameworks and improve institutional and human capacity.

Second, continue to bring the Vietnam-UNESCO partnership into depth, substance and effectiveness. The Vietnam National Committee for UNESCO, its sub-committees, the Secretariat of the National Committee, the Vietnamese Delegation to UNESCO and relevant agencies should play a pivotal role in promoting the effective implementation of the results capitalized through the visits of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the Director General of UNESCO, closely follow the Action Plan to implement the Vietnam-UNESCO MoU in line with UNESCO's medium-term strategy and Vietnam's socio-economic development strategy...

Third, contribute to participating in the development, advocacy and protection of registration documents submitted to the UNESCO, harmoniously combining conservation and promotion of heritage to serve practical development. We will continue to push the recognition of a number of cultural heritage sites, such as Ha Long Bay - Cat Ba Islands, Dong Ho folk painting as an intangible cultural heritage, campaigning UNESCO to join the celebration of the 300th anniversary of Le Huu Trac’s birth in 2024, submit dossiers for the recognition of The Complex of Yen Tu Monuments and Landscapes, promote and support the dossiers of Oc Eo - Ba The archaeological site, Lang Son Geopark..., enlist support to preserve and promote the value of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long - Hanoi...

Fourth, play a pioneer role in promoting Vietnam’s image to the world. Up to now, Vietnam has 57 heritages and titles awarded by the UNESCO, ranking first among Southeast Asian countries. All 63 provinces and cities own or co-own at least one UNESCO title. These titles are an effective way for international friends to have a better knowledge about a dynamically developing Vietnam, a successful model of innovation, integration, but still rich in tradition, rich in identity.

This year, we will celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, an international conference on the role of UNESCO titles for sustainable development, in order to take advantage of UNESCO's knowledge, initiatives and resources for conservation and promotion of heritage values, improving people's living standards, supporting efforts for socio-economic development and sustainable tourism post-pandemic, and at the same time promoting the country and people of Vietnam.

Fifth, enhance the country's position and prestige by strengthening the country’s participation in solving common concerns, international affairs, and our executive role in UNESCO mechanisms. Now, Vietnam is a member of Executive Council of UNESCO, the Inter-Governmental Commission on the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the Intergovernmental Commission on the 2003 Convention. We also continue to campaign for candidacy for the World Heritage Committee for the term of 2023-2027 to contribute to the work of UNESCO.