Thua Thien-Hue (VNA) – The 2018 Asia-Pacific Intangible CulturalHeritage (ICH) Non-Government Organisation (NGO) Conference opened in thecentral province of Thua Thien-Hue on November 6, under the theme of “ICH NGOstowards the Sustainable Development of Communities”.

Since 2014, the International Information and NetworkingCentre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (ICHCAP) hasbeen organising international ICH conferences biennially as a networkingplatform for NGOs. This specific conference will focus predominantly on thework of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the Asia-Pacific region’s ICHfield.

This year’s three-day conference has attracted theparticipation of representatives from 35 organisations from 16 nations.

Its discussions focus on the relationship between intangiblecultural heritage and sustainable development.

Delegates are expected to exchange views on and experiencein projects related to the role and potential of NGOs in safeguardingintangible cultural heritage, in educating about ICH work towards sustainabledevelopment, in developing cities and communities comprehensively throughdisseminations on ICH, and in making proposals to better the support of NGOsfor ICH conservation in the region.

The conference also includes a special session on ICHsafeguarding in Vietnam, in which speakers are expected to discuss the 15-yearimplementation of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of theIntangible Cultural Heritage.

Nong Quoc Thanh, deputy head of the Department of CulturalHeritage under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, said that Vietnamwas one of the first 30 countries to participate in the 2003 Convention.

Vietnam currently owns 62,283 confirmed pieces of ICH,including 271 national heritages and 12 UNESCO-recognised ones. By localheritages entering the national-level and international-level lists, they haveprovided the motivation for renewed cultural heritage conservation efforts.

Along with contributions by social organisations, Vietnamhopes to receive support from foreign experts, in ways of approach, experience,and resources, so as to protect and promote national cultural heritage values,Thanh added.

Phan Thanh Hai, Director the Hue Monuments ConservationCentre, stressed that Thua Thien-Hue has five UNESCO-recognised heritages, allof which are from the Nguyen Dynasty.

This conference offers a chance for the locality to partakein accurate and objective assessments to carry out policies towards the sustainabledevelopment of its intangible cultural heritage, expanding the cooperation in andpromotion of its heritage, Hai said. –VNA