Phong outlined the commission’s important achievements in 2013, highlighting Vietnam’s election to UNESCO’s 21-member World Heritage Committee (WHC).
UNESCO also officially recognised southern Vietnam’s Don Ca Tai Tu (amateur singing) as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humankind.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova paid her term’s second visit to Vietnam during 2013, showing her interest in the country.
Vietnam actively contributed to the contents of UNESCO’s 191st and 192nd Executive Board meetings as well as its 37th General Conference, reaping positive results in education, culture, natural sciences, and information and technology (IT).
The National Commission for UNESCO has already acknowledged the organisation faces a year of austerity as it enters 2014.. The commission plans to proceed with implementing the 2010–2015 memorandum of understanding between the Vietnamese Government and UNESCO, covering culture, education, science, and IT.
The Vietnamese Government approved a 2013–2018 project expanding Vietnam’s UNESCO participation in January 2013. The commission intends to nominate Vietnam for election to UNESCO’s Executive Board for the 2015–2019 term.
As a member of the WHC, Vietnam will lobby UNESCO to recognise the world heritage status of the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex and Cat Ba Archipelago. Vietnam is considering becoming a signatory of UNESCO’s 2011 Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage.
The commission will press on with Vietnam’s Green Network initiative, a project designed to facilitate heritage and world biosphere management experiences within ASEAN and its partner nations.
It will also support the provinces of Ha Giang and Lam Dong through their submissions for UNESCO recognition as World Biosphere Reserves.
