Pursuant to the invitation letter at reference number GB/AS 1732, WHP. Inv dated October 18, 2024 of the International Council on Monuments and Sites ICOMOS on direct dialogue on the Scientific dossier of the Complex of Monuments and Landscapes of Yen Tu - Vinh Nghiem - Con Son, Kiep Bac submitted to UNESCO for recognition as a World Heritage Site, the Vietnamese expert-level dialogue delegation led by comrade Nguyen Thi Hanh, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province, arrived in Paris to conduct the dialogue.
Participating in the working trip were Vietnam's leading experts in the fields of culture, archaeology, landscape geology and those directly involved in building the dossier, along with representatives of relevant departments and branches.
Yen Tu relics and landscapes are a series of relics spread across the three provinces of Quang Ninh, Bac Giang, and Hai Duong. The dossier has been of interest to Vietnam and has been researched and developed since 2020. ICOMOS experts conducted a field assessment of the dossier from August 5 to August 15, 2024. After the field assessment by ICOMOS experts, ICOMOS sent an invitation to Vietnam to participate in a dialogue on the dossier. Within the framework of the working trip, a working session and dialogue took place this afternoon, November 25, in Paris, France.
The dialogue on the ICOMOS side was chaired by the ICOMOS President and 30 independent experts of ICOMOS who participated in the dialogue directly and online. The Vietnamese dialogue delegation in France was led by Ms. Nguyen Thi Hanh, Vice Chairwoman of the Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee; Ms. Nguyen Thi Van Anh, Ambassador, Head of the Vietnamese Delegation to UNESCO, and consulting experts. The online dialogue in Vietnam on the dossier was chaired by Mr. Hoang Dao Cuong, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, along with leaders of the Department of Culture and Sports, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the three provinces of Quang Ninh, Bac Giang, Hai Duong, and related agencies.
ICOMOS highly appreciated the report supplementing the dossier of Vietnam according to ICOMOS's recommendation, the report provided all the necessary ideas about the nomination dossier that ICOMOS requested. During the discussion, ICOMOS requested to clarify the outstanding global value, the characteristic value of Truc Lam Buddhist architecture; the difference of Buddhist architecture with other Buddhist architectures in the region; the strongest and weakest points of the dossier; the authenticity, the relationship between the issue of cultural landscape and the content of criterion 5 is two or one; the issue of management and the role of the community.
The Vietnamese delegation of experts participating in the dialogue explained and clarified all the issues raised by ICOMOS, emphasizing the globally outstanding declaration, authenticity, characteristics and globally outstanding attributes of the nominated heritage. The delegation also clarified issues related to criterion 5 of the heritage, affirming that the management of the nominated heritage has been carried out very well. At the same time, they highly appreciated the role of the community in preserving, protecting and promoting the value of the nominated heritage in the past as well as at present and committed to continue to focus on protecting and preserving the nominated heritage.
ICOMOS assessed that the Vietnamese delegation had answered questions well on the spot and protected the nominated heritage well. ICOMOS also said that if there were any issues requiring additional information on the heritage, they would send it soon so that Vietnam could continue to research and respond on time. In addition to the official dialogue, the Quang Ninh delegation also had meetings and dialogues with ambassadors of the permanent delegations of countries to UNESCO so that the ambassadors could clearly understand the Yen Tu heritage and the efforts of the three provinces of Quang Ninh, Bac Giang, and Hai Duong in building the dossier and in preserving and conserving the heritage.
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