Hanoi is open to recommendations and opinions to set up specific plans towards transforming the city into the region’s creative hub, according to Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Vuong Dinh Hue.

Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Vuong Dinh Hue.

More than a millennium ago, Ly Cong Uan, the first king of the Ly dynasty, made a historic decision of moving the capital of the country from Hoa Lu to Dai La, later renamed as Thang Long (the Rising Dragon) and eventually Hanoi. The city is now home to 10 million people and remains Vietnam’s political-social – economic hub with rich cultural heritage, Mr. Hue said at a conference discussing the creative aspect of Hanoi on October 2.

The conference, jointly held by the Hanoi People’s Committee and the UNESCO Office in Vietnam, is part of a series of events celebrating the 1010^th anniversary of the founding of Thang Long – Hanoi.

Hanoi’s Party chief Hue said as the city further integrates into global economy, its relations with over 100 capital and cities globally have created strong momentum for Hanoi to pursue rapid and sustainable development.

In a world of rapid changes, Mr. Hue expected Hanoi to continue thriving in the role of Vietnam’s driving force for growth by taking advantage of its creativity.

Mr. Hue referred to the development strategy of Vietnamese cultural industry by 2020, with vision to 2030 adopted in 2016, with the target of making Hanoi Vietnam’s creative hub.

In October 2019, 20 years after Hanoi was honored as the City for Peace by UNESCO, the capital city has officially become a member of UNESCO’s Network of Creative Cities in the “Design” category.

The Creative Cities Network was launched in 2004 to promote cooperation with and between cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development.

Overview of the conference.

According to Mr. Hue, this is a major boost for Hanoi to realize its 2030 strategic goal of becoming a green, smart and modern city capable of competing with cities in the region and all over the world; by 2045, Hanoi would be a global city having high standards of living with comprehensive and sustainable development in fields of culture, economy and society.

By being a member of the Creative Cities Network, Hanoi would realize its commitments to UNESCO by setting up visions and policies to gradually turn the city into a creative city, Mr. Hue stressed.

UNESCO Chief Representative in Vietnam Michael Croft, said the priority is to turn the city’s creative aspect into the foundation to realize the socio-economic development goal under the 2045 vision.

UNESCO Chief Representative in Vietnam Michael Croft.

Under UNESCO Creative Cities Network, Hanoi could enhance cooperation with other “Design” cities such as Seoul, Singapore, Kobe, Shanghai, Bandung in the region, and Helsinki, Montreal, Berlin in the world, Mr. Croft said.

However, the most important issue for Hanoi is to ensure efficient city-level cooperation among the community, authorities, universities and the private sector to support Hanoi’s development, especially in realizing innovative ideas into good practices, Mr. Croft added.

The UNESCO representative stated that by promoting the Creative City title, Hanoi has again reaffirmed its commitment of taking the people at the core of the development process.

Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Vietnam National UNESCO Committee Le Hoai Trung said Hanoi’s participation in the network paves the way for the city to turn creativity and cultural industry into a core aspect of development; offers opportunities for Hanoi to further integrate globally.

Mr. Trung said “Creative city” is a vision for Hanoi to draft its next development strategies, requiring sufficient investment in human and resources accordingly.