The Year of Cultural Diplomacy a success

HA NOI — Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem yesterday thanked foreign ambassadors and the attending diplomatic corps for joining in a wide range of activities in 2009, which was themed as Viet Nam's Year of Cultural Diplomacy.

At yesterday's review reception, Khiem appreciated that foreign diplomats shared with Viet Nam their experience in cultural diplomacy. He also thanked them for lobbying for Bac Ninh's famous folk music and Ca tru, a type of ceremonial music performance Viet Nam has preserved for more than 10 centuries, to be recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Mankind.

He also thanked foreign diplomats for voting for Ha Long Bay to be named as one of the seven New World Wonders.

Like the rest of the world, Viet Nam was hit hard by the global economic crisis in 2009, but all activities related to cultural diplomacy had been creatively organised with effective focus, he said.

He added the success of Viet Nam's Year of Cultural Diplomacy was marked by the support and active participation of ambassadors and foreign corps' representatives in their numerous visits to different parts of Viet Nam. These visits were opportunities for them to better understand the Vietnamese people and their history.

He also told his guests that Viet Nam was undertaking comprehensive diplomacy based on three key poles of political diplomacy, economic diplomacy and cultural diplomacy.

The ambassadors and foreign diplomatic corps' representatives present at yesterday's event spoke highly of the Viet Nam's Year of Cultural Diplomacy 2009 and said it was successful, which had been evidenced in a wide range of operations promoting Viet Nam's image throughout the world.

They suggested the Foreign Ministry to plan new cultural diplomacy activities earlier and more specifically so that they could be carried out more effectively and attract more people to participate in the future.

On this occasion, Khiem presented the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Certificate of Merits to ambassadors and charge d'affaires from China, Republic of Korea, Venezuela, Laos, Malaysia, Italy, Morroco and Panama for their active contributions to Viet Nam's Year of Cultural Diplomacy 2009.

Earlier Khiem wrote a letter to the public about the key successes from Viet Nam's Year of Cultural Diplomacy 2009.

"It was carried out in an independent and creative manner, with clear focal points. It also started developing a close relationship with Political Diplomacy and Economical Diplomacy," Khiem writes.

"We had also collaborated well with the Vietnamese community abroad, which helped create a strong foundation to develop a national diplomacy in all aspects," he added.

In May, the Cham Islands and Ca Mau Cape were recognised as part of UNESCO's biosphere reserve areas.

Recognition

In June, a set of Nguyen dynasty wood blocks became the first piece of Vietnamese heritage to win recognition from UNESCO as a Memory of the World.

In September, the northern province of Bac Ninh's quan ho (folk love duets) and ca tru (ceremonial songs) were recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Mankind.

In October, Viet Nam was elected as a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO for the 2009-13 term and UNESCO agreed to co-operate with Viet Nam in organising the 1,000th anniversary of Ha Noi as an international event.

According to Khiem, the most important achievements of the cultural diplomacy programme was the involvement of the State departments and institutions at all levels in the programme.

"The Government has made a great effort in creating a legal corridor to support Cultural Diplomacy including issuing a law about Vietnamese representative offices abroad and setting up an executive board of Cultural Diplomacy," he said.

Cultural Diplomacy was also successful in popularising the image of Viet Nam to the world. Many provinces were more independent in organising activities to advertise their image including Bac Ninh's Quan ho Cultural Night, Festival of Buon Ma Thuot Coffee, and the Beach Festival in Nha Trang City.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also very successful in collaborating with local authorities to create thorough profiles of many cultural heritage items, which were later approved by UNESCO and many other international organisations including New7wonders, CNN and BBC broadcasting channels.

"These activities also helped promote tourism and attract outside investment, which directly brought benefit to provinces that possess heritage, " said Khiem.

The committee of the Cultural Diplomacy programme organised many collaborative activities with the Vietnamese community abroad including a teaching Vietnamese programme, "Spring in the Motherland" video conference. These programmes helped connect Vietnamese living abroad with the country and create opportunities for Viet Nam and other countries to exchange each other's cultural experiences.

Viet Nam's Cultural Diplomacy programme has also referred to many other countries' experiences in building up complete cultural diplomatic strategies. There have been many forums, conferences and research projects organised, which attracted the attention of many researchers and diplomatic experts. In 2010, Khiem said that Cultural Diplomacy would need to advertise images of Viet Nam more widely to the world and organise events and activities that support Viet Nam's new role as the chairman of ASEAN. — VNS