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Mar 12, 2017 / 20:44

PM urges Central Highlands region to promote cultural values

Prime Minister (PM) Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended the opening ceremony of the sixth Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival and the gong festival on the night of March 10 in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak.

Speaking at the event, the PM highlighted that the Buon Ma Thuot coffee festival plays an important role in promoting the trademark Buon Ma Thuot coffee and Vietnam’s coffee to the international market.
 
Prime Minister speaks at the opening ceremony.
Prime Minister speaks at the opening ceremony.
The Government leader said the Central Highlands has great advantages and potential for coffee plantations and exports, and the region should also improve its agro-forestry processing industry.
PM Phuc urged the Central Highlands region to develop into a prosperous area by promoting its biodiversity, cultural values and organic agriculture.
The PM urged the region to develop a sustainable strategy to preserve the identity of local ethnic groups, especially the gong space culture, which in 2008 was named to the Representative List of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Cultivation of coffee trees is the main livelihood of farmers in the Central Highlands.The PM said the region, which could become an attractive tourist destination, should promote ecological tours associated with coffee and gong-culture values.
The festival has also attracted investors interested in trade and tourism projects in the area, he said.
During the festival, there will be cultural activities around Buon Ma Thuot, including a culinary street, street festival, elephant race, boat race, and wooden statue-carving contest with 60 artisans from the central province of Khanh Hoa and the Central Highlands region.

 
At the opening ceremony of the sixth Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival.
At the opening ceremony of the sixth Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival.
Besides, the festival will also organise a photo contest featuring local coffee culture and gong space culture as well as a coffee harvesting competition.
The country has exported an average of 1.2-1.5 million tonnes of coffee each year in the past 10 years. Vietnam is the second-largest coffee exporter in the world, following Brazil.
During the coffee festival, local and foreign visitors will have an opportunity to enjoy a gong festival in Dak Lak.
The gong festival promotes the cultural value and music of the Central Highlands gongs to the country and world, as well as the country’s socio-economic development, particularly tourism.
Gong performances and traditional ethnic group ceremonies will take place in Buon Ma Thuot and Buon Don district.
Many ethnic groups will attend the gong festival, together with performers from other countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Romania.
The PM said that the gong music is a deeply rooted part of culture in most East and Southeast Asian countries.
The gong festival reflects the Central Highlands gong culture’s status as a masterpiece of the world’s oral and intangible heritage. The title was awarded by UNESCO in December 2005 after the Government submitted an action programme on the unique culture.
“Gongs have been widely used during daily life including grand ceremonies of the Central Highlands ethnic groups,” PM Phuc said.
“Villages in the region often reflect their strength through gongs. They show the people’s sentiments, love, and relationship to nature,” he added.