Hanoi is seeking support from organizations, businesses, and individuals to promote the cultural industry in the city’s craft villages.

Chairwoman of the Hanoi Association of Handicrafts and Traditional Craft Villages Ha Thi Vinh made the statement at a meeting with Vice Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong on February 10.

“In the past two years, despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, members of the Hanoi Association of Handicrafts and Traditional Craft Villages have constantly innovated production and business activities to create jobs and income for employees,” Vinh said.

She suggested the city would pay more attention to investing in Bat Trang Ceramics Village so that it will soon become a heritage craft village of Vietnam and the world.

Vice Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong visits the product display area at the Center for Vietnamese Craftsman Village. Photo: The Hanoi Times

“Moreover, at the Center for Vietnamese Craftsmanship, there is an exhibition area of ​​the genealogy of the 19 original families of Bat Trang Village. We hope that the municipal authorities will recognize this center as a museum which not only introduces Bat Trang’s ceramics but also contributes to promoting Vietnamese culture,” Vinh stressed.

Echoing Vinh, Vice Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong said that the municipal Party Committee will soon issue a thematic resolution on “Developing the cultural industry in the capital for 2021-2025, with orientations to 2030, with a vision to 2045”, which targets harnessing the city’s numerous potential and strengths to develop the cultural industry in the coming time.

Hanoi currently has more than 1,350 craft villages, accounting for one-third of the country’s recognized craft villages. Many of them have more than 1,000 years of development associated with the formation of the capital city and practice unique trades.

“The development of craft villages in association with the cultural industry not only contributes to preserving the thousand-year-old trades and getting rich from them, but also boosts cultural development, identity and brand of the capital, contributing to positioning the City for Peace, and the Creative City in the international arena. Thus, it is very important to unlock cultural resources for sustainable development,” Phong emphasized.

He also highlighted the importance of promoting Vietnamese culture among international friends through unique and distinctive products of Hanoi's traditional craft villages.

“The municipal government always creates favorable conditions for the Hanoi Association of Handicrafts and Traditional Craft Villages as well as businesses to thrive. In particular, the association and its members need to make more efforts to find the right direction in the difficult context of the Covid-19 pandemic and the impacts of the globalization process,” Phong noted.

To promote the development of the cultural industry in the craft villages, the vice secretary said that the city would focus on several tasks such as creating a favorable environment and policies to boost the cultural industry as well as build infrastructure and a creative cultural ecosystem comprising a cultural market and an education structure.

“This is long-term work which requires a lot of investment. The city has devised a strategy to bolster the cultural industry which will be carried out in stages with specific tasks at each one,” Phong added.