Quang Ninh (VNA) – Vice Chairwoman of the Quang Ninh municipal People's Committee Vu Thi Mai Anh received Jonathan Wallace Baker, UNESCO Representative to Vietnam, on October 29 to discuss cooperation in digital transformation, heritage management and sustainable development.
Anh praised the UNESCO Representative Office in Vietnam for its support and cooperation in science, education and culture, particularly in managing world heritage sites.
As UNESCO develops its five-year strategy and action plan for Vietnam, she called on both sides to maintain existing cooperation programs, increase experience sharing and expand collaboration in key areas.
Quang Ninh looks forward to UNESCO support in using digital technology for heritage management, fostering cultural industries and innovation, and creating policies to gather and allocate resources for heritage preservation and restoration. The city also aims to work with UNESCO on environmental protection and tourist destination management, the official noted.
These efforts aim to improve the conservation and promotion of world heritage sites in Quang Ninh, including Ha Long Bay and Yen Tu, while raising the international profile of the city’s distinctive culture, Anh added.
For his part, Baker affirmed UNESCO’s readiness to work with Quang Ninh in priority areas such as education, culture, heritage management and promotion, science – technology, innovation, and digital transformation, which are also among the organization’s strategic priorities in Vietnam.
The UNESCO representative showed interest in collaborating with Quang Ninh to explore an ocean education project, aiming to raise young people’s awareness of protecting the marine environment.
Welcoming the proposals, Anh assigned the Quang Ninh Economic Zone Authority to act as the focal point, working closely with the UNESCO Representative Office in Vietnam and relevant departments to turn the proposals into cooperation programs and activities in line with the city's sustainable development target.