Vietnam broadens partnership in heritage preservation
Vietnam has proactively expanded its cooperation with other countries and international organizations in preserving and upholding values of UNESCO-recognized heritage pieces, a representative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has said.
Katherine Muller-Marine, Chief Representative of the UNESCO office in Vietnam, added that in recent years, the organization has also intensified its cooperation with the country by providing financial assistance and training staff tasked with preservation duties.
Vietnam has joined many international conventions related to the preservation of cultural and natural heritage. As a member of the World Heritage Committee since 2013, the country has also led an initiative forming a network to connect the world’s heritage sites with its biosphere reserves and national parks.
Dang Van Bai, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Cultural Heritage Association, said the country boasts many experienced experts on maintaining heritage pieces, which has been illustrated through the effectiveness of the preservation in the Hue Imperial Citadel and Hoi An ancient town.
However, he noted, Vietnam is short of finance for the work since conservation activities require a large sum of money. Meanwhile, a dearth of professional and foreign language skills of the personnel along with an influx of visitors to recognized heritage sites is also deemed as problematic.
Muller-Marine said like many other countries, Vietnam is facing the question of how to preserve heritage pieces and to make use of their value, for example through tourism development.
To deal with such a quandrum, she suggested the country protect heritage even before it is officially recognized as an international treasure.
She added that preserving and upholding values of heritage pieces is the responsibility of authorities at all levels and people in society.