UNESCO leader to consider Thang Long Citadel

UNESCO’s Director-General Irina Bokova has promised to consider Vietnam’s submission of the Thang Long Royal Citadel to UNESCO for recognition as a world heritage, while receiving Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Thanh Son in Paris on April 7.

Deputy Minister Son, who is also Chairman of Vietnam’s UNESCO Committee, is in Paris to attend the 184th session of UNESCO’s Executive Council.

Son expressed thanks to UNESCO for supporting Vietnam over the years and asked the UNESCO leader to back Vietnam’s submission. He stressed that if Thang Long Royal Citadel is recognised as a world heritage, it would be especially significant for Vietnam as Hanoi celebrates the capital city’s millennium birthday in October this year.

He conveyed an invitation from Hanoi’s authorities to Director-General Bokova to attend the celebration of the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi which the UNESCO Director-General accepted heartily.

Bokova said that the International Council for Monuments and Historical Sites (ICOMOS) is evaluating Vietnam’s submission and the World Heritage Committee will give its decision at its 34th session, which is scheduled to be held in Brazil in August this year.

On the sidelines of the UNESCO Executive Council’s 184th session, the Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister met with representatives from World Heritage Committee member countries, to promote Vietnam ’s sites that are being put forward to UNESCO for recognition.