The National Cultural Heritage Council should focus on scientific management issues related to cultural heritage conservation so as to turn them into the powerhouses for national development, said Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam at a meeting of the council held on January 5 in Hanoi.

The Deputy Prime Minister hopes that the Council will focus on scientific and management issues related to conservation, value promotion, and making cultural heritages a strength for national development in the next working term/ Photo: Dinh Nam (Lao Dong)

The meeting is aimed at reviewing the performance of the ‘National Cultural Heritage Council’ in the period between 2015-19 and orientations for the term 2020-24.

Reporting about the heritage conservation tasks in the period 2015-19, Prof. Dr. Luu Tran Tieu, Chairman of the National Cultural Heritage Association, said that the country currently boasts over 40,000 relics of all kinds, of which, 10,109 are provincial relics, 3,560 are national monuments and 112 special national monuments.

There are eight monuments and landscapes recognized by UNESCO as world natural and cultural heritage and another 13 as intangible cultural heritage. The country has 179 museums, which preserve about four million artifacts, among them, 127 artifacts and a group of artifacts are recognized as national treasures.

Prof. Dr. Tieu also petitioned the Deputy Prime Minister to consider assigning the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to lead the “Program of conservation and sustainable promotion of cultural heritage values, term of 2021-30” replacing the “Program of cultural development targets, term 2016-2020”; and develop a “Decree on management of UNESCO registered intangible cultural heritages”.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam spoke highly of the contributions made by members of the National Cultural Heritage Council during the past time, especially in the appraisal of relic dossiers.

The National Council for Cultural Heritage is established to help the Prime Minister on work relating to the preservation and promotion of the values of cultural heritages in Vietnam/ Photo: Dinh Nam

"The Council will focus on scientific and management issues related to conservation, value promotion, and making cultural heritages a strength for national development in the next working term," Mr. Dam said.

Acknowledging the recommendations of the council, Mr. Dam requested the Government Office to take stock on the implementation of the Heritage Law; at the same time, asking the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the National Cultural Heritage Council to promote the application of information technology and establish a "Digital Museum".

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned council members, including the National University, to develop tools to help the council improve the oversight of the conservation and promotion of cultural heritage across all localities, ministries and departments.