Vietnam on Wednesday was elected member of the World Heritage Committee for the 2023-27 tenure, getting 121 out of the 171 valid votes, the Department of Cultural Heritage under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism announced on the same day.

The election was held as part of the 24th session of the General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (World Heritage Convention) in Paris.

By gaining the said amount of votes, Vietnam ranked third among the nine elected states from five regions.

The other eight members elected to the World Heritage Committee during this session are Ukraine, South Korea, Kenya, Senegal, Lebanon, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, and Türkiye.

According to the Department of Cultural Heritage, the World Heritage Committee is one of the important executive bodies of UNESCO. The Committee is responsible for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, defines the use of the World Heritage Fund and allocates financial assistance upon requests from states parties. It has the final say on whether a property is inscribed on the World Heritage List. It examines reports on the state of conservation of inscribed properties and asks States Parties to take action when properties are not being properly managed. It also decides on the inscription or deletion of properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Hence, candidates have to strongly compete with each other to be elected one of the 21 member states of the World Heritage Committee.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ha Kim Ngoc, who also serves as chairman of the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO, hailed the outcomes that Vietnam achieved in this election, as this is the second time that the country has been elected to the most important executive body for culture of UNESCO.

In 2013, Vietnam was first elected to the World Heritage Committee for the 2013-17 tenure, during which the Southeast Asian nation made positive contributions to the Committee.

Securing the high number of votes also reflected Vietnam’s prestige in the international arena, the international community’s trust in and support for its contribution and chairmanship capacity at global multilateral institutions, the recognition of the country’s practical contributions to UNESCO and to the preservation and promotion of heritage values in Vietnam and the world,

This election marks the first time that Vietnam has joined five major mechanisms of the UNESCO simultaneously. Hence, the country will have a chance to make more active contributions to major programs and orientations of UNESCO, said Ambassador Le Thi Hong Van, permanent representative of Vietnam to UNESCO.

By taking on the roles at five key UNESCO mechanisms, Vietnam serves as member of the UNESCO Executive Board for the 2021-25 tenure; vice-president of the 42nd session of the UNESCO’s General Conference; vice-chair of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions for the 2021-25 tenure; member of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage for the 2022-26 tenure; and member of the World Heritage Committee for the 2023-27 tenure. 

As a member of the World Heritage Committee for the 2023-27 tenure, Vietnam will have favorable conditions to contribute more to the perfection and implementation of the goals and priorities of the World Heritage Convention, and share experience to help world heritage preservation and development harmonize with each other, Van added.

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