Revisiting Vietnam’s Contributions to the UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's programs have contributed to the achievements of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between UNESCO and Vietnam for the 2021 to 2025 period. Photo: TTXVN

UNESCO is a specialised agency of the United Nations (UN). Its mission is to contribute to peace and sustainable development through education, sciences, culture, communication and information.

Growth Through Challenges

UNESCO has contributed to preserving and promoting the cultural values ​​of nearly 2,300 world heritage sites; protecting 169 global parks and 727 world biosphere reserves after 75 years of existence.

UNESCO has also contributed to eradicating illiteracy, building a learning and lifelong learning society, and improving the quality of education at all levels, sharing knowledge and advances of science and technology with the goal of "No one is left behind".

Mr Mai Phan Dung, Head of the Department of Cultural Diplomacy and UNESCO under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Secretary-General of the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO appreciated the role of UNESCO, emphasizing that UNESCO has made important contributions to peace and sustainable development.

Mr Mai Phan Dung spoke at the Plenary Meeting of the 41st session of the General Conference in Paris, France. Photo: Baoquocte

UNESCO has made efforts to reform its system, aiming to be a key partner in many fields, serve as a forum of intellectual dialogue with an interdisciplinary approach.

However, UNESCO has been facing challenges in financial resources to implement programs and conflict between heritage preservation and ensuring livelihoods for indigenous communities, between preserving historical values and economic development.

Comprehensive, Substantive and Effective Cooperation

As a member of UNESCO, Vietnam has contributed to maintaining international peace and security and promoting intellectual cooperation for sustainable development; supporting UNESCO‘s reform to become a more democratic, transparent and efficient organization.

The Vietnamese delegation attended the Plenary Meeting of the 41st session of the General Conference. Photo: Baoquocte

Mr Mai Phan Dung stated that the Vietnam-UNESCO relation can be summed up in three words "comprehensive, substantive and effective".

Vietnam has always been an active and responsible member, making contributions to the organization development and solving common problems. Vietnam has also benefited from UNESCO's financial resources, knowledge and policy advice.

In addition, Vietnam has been holding many important positions, such as a member of the World Heritage Committee, the International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere Programme (ICC-MAB), the Western Pacific-The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC WESTPAC). Vietnam has sent experts to hold some important positions at UNESCO's agencies.

In particular, the Vietnam-UNESCO cooperation was upgraded when Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited UNESCO headquarters on November 5, witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between UNESCO and Vietnam for the 2021 to 2025 period.

During the meeting with Ms Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated UNESCO for supporting Vietnam and wished to bring the Vietnam-UNESCO partnership to a new level, focusing on sharing knowledge and ideas, supporting capacity building for sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development in Vietnam.

Vietnam was applied for the Executive Board of UNESCO (2021-2025), the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage ( 2022-2026), the World Heritage Committee (2023-2027) to support the implementation of UNESCO’s programs, especially the projects to help countries recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.

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As a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2020 to 2021 period, Vietnam is ready to share experiences and act as a bridge in strengthening multi-faceted cooperation between UNESCO and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other regional organizations.

The UNESCO Office in Hanoi and the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO have been successfully implementing many programs in Vietnam. These agencies play an important role in connecting Vietnam and UNESCO, as well as the other members of the organization.

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