Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam joined representatives from embassies and domestic and foreign museums at the ceremony.
Addressing the event, Dam said the initiative to create the buildingwas first mooted more than one year after Vietnam joined the Associationof Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The project hasmirrored the country’s vision and resolve to enhance cultural exchangewith other regional countries, looking towards the building of the ASEANCommunity by 2015, he said.
The Deputy PM said the buildingis also expected to strengthen cultural exchanges between ASEAN membersand countries worldwide, thus contributing to joint efforts for peaceand prosperity in the region and the world at large.
Heurged the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences and the Vietnam EthnologyMuseum to seek more initiatives and conduct practical activities to helpVietnamese people understand foreign cultures and introduce Vietnameseculture to international friends.
Earlier, the museum’sdirector Vo Quang Trong said at a press briefing that the building hasbeen completed after six years of construction with the participation ofVietnamese and French experts.
Over the past half decade,the museum’s staff have researched and collected over 2,000 objects,nearly 100 videos and many documents from Southeast Asian countries, hesaid.
The building was opened to the public on December 1with a range of cultural activities, including performances staged byartists from Thailand and Laos.-VNA