First Vietnam-ASEAN UNESCO Heritage Festival to be held

The first Vietnam-ASEAN UNESCO Heritage Festival 2013 will be held in Lam Dong province in Vietnam's Central Highlands from Dec. 27 to 31, with the participation of guests from ASEAN's partners, local press reported. Guests from India, China, Japan and South Korea will join representatives from ASEAN member countries, besides those from Vietnamese provinces, reported the Vietnam Communist Party of Vietnam on its website. The festival aims to popularize and glorify Vietnam's heritages which have been recognized by UNESCO or are submitting to UNESCO for recognition, create a forum for Vietnam, regional countries and their partners to share experience in the conservation and promotion of heritage values and help foster closer ties and friendship between the aforementioned countries. It will also introduce untapped landscapes as well as people, potentials and strengths of the country in general, and the Central Highlands in particular, to the international community. The event will coincide with the 120th founding anniversary of the province's Da Lat city and the fifth Da Lat Flower Festival. On the occasion, the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the provincial People's Committee will announce the Central Highlands-Da Lat National Tourism Year 2014. There will be sideline events, including an international conference on preservation and sustainable development of UNESCO heritages in Southeast Asia, an exhibition and a seminar about flowers in Da Lat city and tourism, performances of UNESCO- recognized intangible cultural heritages in Vietnam and other ASEAN countries. Ten works of installation arts about famous cultural works in 10 ASEAN countries will also be displayed during the event. To date, Vietnam has 16 heritages recognized by UNESCO.