Hue seeks to become creative city of UNESCO
A symposium was held in Hue city in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on September 22, seeking measures to help the ancient capital achieve a listing in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) thanks to its culinary artistry.
Experts, businesses and individuals shared experiences of UCCN cities to help Thua Thien - Hue meet the criteria and soon enroll in the network.
Many said that cuisine is a feasible and suitable approach for the locality to build a creative city when joining the UCCN.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong, director of the Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies, said that if Hue chooses the culinary field, the process of preparing data for the application in 2025 or 2027 will need a systematic implementation roadmap from now, and the city should gain experience from the Republic of Korea’s Jeonju city.
Permanent Deputy Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Phan Ngoc Tho said that Hue's cuisine had as many as 1,700 out of 3,000 dishes in Vietnam recorded in the Nguyen Dynasty (1802–1945)'s documents.
Over the past years, the province has made efforts to preserve and promote traditional values, as well as the creativity for culinary development, thus contributing to creating livelihoods and income for local people as well as unique local cultural and tourism products.
This is in accordance with the requirements that UNESCO sets for candidates to join the network, he added.
The UNESCO Creative Cities Network is a flagship city programme of UNESCO launched in 2004 to promote cooperation among cities which highlight culture and creativity as strategic drivers of sustainable urban development. As of 2022, there were almost 300 cities from around 90 countries in the network.
