Consultative Workshop on the Review of Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in Viet Nam.

On the 18th June 2020, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in collaboration with the Embassy of Denmark in Viet Nam and UNESCO Office in Ha Noi organized the Consultative Workshop on the Review of Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in Viet Nam. 

The Workshop draws representatives from departments of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Embassy of Denmark in Viet Nam and UNESCO Office in Ha Noi, delegates from relevant ministries, agencies, some municipal and provincial departments of culture and sports, national culture and art organizations, political society organizations, NGOs, social enterprises, universities and experts, researchers, artists, reporters… 

Speaking at the welcoming speech, Ms. Nguyen Phuong Hoa, Director General of the International Cooperation Department said that the Workshop offered an opportunity for delegates to review policies in a democratic manner to ensure the diversity of cultural expressions in Viet Nam as well as enabling the creativity of Viet Nam to access world’s market. She showed her expectation to receive feedbacks from all the delegates at the Workshop for the National Report period 2016-2019 on the implementation of the UNESCO’s Convention 2005 on Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, especially feedbacks and discussion from civil societies, social enterprises and people working in the fields of culture and art. Making and reviewing policies is not a top-down process, it requires active participation of beneficiaries and relevant stakeholders to ensure practicality and effectiveness of policies.

As a partner of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Denmark has been maintaining a dialogue on policy and crucial cultural and art issues. Mrs. Louise Holmsgaard, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Denmark in Viet Nam shared in her opening remarks that Viet Nam has a huge potential for developing its creative industries. To do so, it is important to recognize the very specific nature of cultural goods and services; to understand both the economic side and the cultural and artistic dimensions. It requires that the government introduces policies to nurture creativity and freedom of expression, and that artists and cultural practitioners are provided with favourable conditions to show their artistic works to the public.

At the Workshop, Mr. Michael Croft, Head of UNESCO Office Hanoi delivered his speech expressing congratulations to Viet Nam on its outstanding success thus far in the fight against the COVID19 and high appreciation on the national efforts to ensure that the social and cultural sectors are incorporated within the push for an early recovery. Despite this difficult time, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has mobilized a national task force consisting of diverse expertise from academia, decision-makers and creative practitioners to lead this national reporting process. He affirmed that the quadrennial periodic reporting exercise for the 2005 Convention is an   important tool that all concerned parties may use as a means to reflect and assess the various measures taken to guarantee the diversity of expressions and foster the value chain of cultural goods and services. He said Viet Nam is one of the first Member States to ratify the Convention and has made significant progress in implementation over recent years. UNESCO Hanoi Office will work closely with the Ministry and relevant agencies to organize a number of awareness-raising activities for the Convention, establishing a professional network of media professionals, artists and active national and selected sub-national focal points for knowledge sharing, awareness raising and public discussion.

Prof. Dr. Bui Hoai Son, Director of Viet Nam National Institute for Culture and Art Studies and his research team presented the new Electronic Form for Periodic Reporting to the Convention and shared their process of research and data collection to build the National Report of Viet Nam. Members of the team made presentations at the Workshop on their researches regarding different issues such as cultural governance, media diversity, the integration of culture into sustainable development, freedom of expressions etc and also took note discussion and feedback from workshop’s delegates with a view to completing the draft to propose it to the Minister for approval before submitting it to UNESCO. 

Viet Nam ratified UNESCO’s Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in 2007. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is the National Focal Point for the implementation of the Convention in Viet Nam. As a Party Member of the Convention, Viet Nam fulfilled the task as Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Committee for the period 2011-2015 and has voluntarily contributed to the International Fund for Cultural Development of the Convention.

According to Article 9 of the Convention on Information sharing and transparency, Parties shall provide appropriate information in their reports to UNESCO every four years on measures taken to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions within their territory and at the international level. Viet Nam completed its report for the period 2008-2011 and 2012-2015. The new Electronic Form for Periodic Reporting period 2016-2019 requires Party Members to report base on a Monitoring Framework which focuses on four objectives of the Convention in line with the UN's SDGs, including: (1) support sustainable systems of governance for culture; (2) achieve a balanced flow of cultural goods and services and increase the mobility of artists and cultural professionals; (3) integrate culture in sustainable development frameworks; (4) promote human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Tran Hai Van