Hanoi, Athens seek closer ties in cultural heritage management

Hanoi (VNA) – Vice Secretary of the Hanoi Party’s Committee Ngo Thi Thanh Hang met with Deputy Mayor of Athens Nelly Papachela during her visit to Greece from November 15 – 19 to discuss enhancing the two capital cities’ relations.

Hang thanked leaders of Athens for the warm welcome and praised Greece and Athens’ thousands of years of history and culture. She highlighted the necessity for enhanced ties between the two capital cities to help translate the two governments’ cooperation programme into reality.

Hanoi wants to learn from Athens’ experience in preservation and management of cultural heritages and step up the bilateral cooperation in culture, tourism, trade and investment to make the most of the two cities’ and countries’ advantages.

Papachela welcomed Hang’s proposal, saying Athens stands ready to work with Hanoi to implement partnership plans between the two sides with the support from Vietnamese Embassy in Greece.

The Hanoi official also met with Directorate for Educational and Cultural Affairs of the Greek Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Michael Daratzikis to exchange experience in management of UNESCO-recognised cultural heritages.

Greece is home to many ancient wonders as well as cultural and historical heritages with UNESCO recognition. The country has a wealth of experience in effectively managing these heritages to motivate the growth of tourism and the entire economy.

The Hanoi side gave an overview of the status of cultural heritages in the city and voiced hope to learn from Greek experience to better manage the heritages.

The Greek side, meanwhile, said they were willing to share with Hanoi experience in preparing application for UNESCO recognition and promoting values of cultural heritages to boost development.

Hang later had a working session with Vietnamese Ambassador to Greece Nguyen Manh Cuong, during which they agreed on a long-term collaboration between Hanoi and the Embassy of Vietnam with the embassy linking Hanoi and Athens.

The embassy will support Hanoi in welcoming a business delegation from Greece led by a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs to visit and explore opportunity for trade and investment in the capital this December. The two sides will also work together to host a Vietnamese culture day in Greece. –VNA