Closing of the 6th ASEAN Ministers on Culture and Arts Meeting

On April 20, in Hue city, Thua Thien-Hue province, the 6th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in charge of Culture and Arts and related meetings with dialogue countries Korea, Japan and China closed.

For a united ASEAN. Photo: Thua Thien-Hue Newspaper

With the theme “Enhancing the role of culture in the sustainable development of the ASEAN community”, the 6th ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Culture and Arts Meeting reviewed the progress of cultural cooperation within the framework of ASEAN and discussed the role of Culture and Arts in supporting the common efforts to build an ASEAN community: One Vision, One Identity, One Community.

Up to now, the implementation of the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint has achieved many results. Nearly 90% of the total 339 goals related to the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community have been or are being addressed through various activities such as: ASEAN Cultural City, ASEAN Youth Camp, ASEAN Ancient Cities Network, etc.

This time, the Ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation in culture and arts for the sustainable development of the ASEAN Cultural Community, towards building the ASEAN Community by 2015; At the same time, they highly agreed on the role of culture as a pillar for sustainable development and agreed in principle on the Hue Declaration on the role of culture for the sustainable development of the ASEAN Community...

ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh said: “In cultural cooperation, ASEAN is cooperating in the preservation of cultural heritages. Of the 33 world heritages recognized by UNESCO, there are 21 cultural relics. In terms of economy, the culture and traditions of ASEAN countries are contributing factors to promoting tourism, contributing to the overall economic development of the countries.”

The message delivered at the 6th ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Culture and Arts Meeting was that culture is an important element in life. The current generation of young people will be the leaders of the future. They are a driving force for the development of ASEAN.

Through this conference, ASEAN is proactively cooperating with dialogue countries such as Korea, Japan, and China. Vietnamese Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh, Chairman of the 6th ASEAN+3 Conference, affirmed: “ASEAN has always proactively identified close approaches to dialogue countries, especially China, Japan, and Korea. For Japan, we are proposing a new policy on Asian cultural exchange and a project called Towards Asia has been launched by establishing an Asian center under the Japan Foundation for Cultural Exchange, aiming to strengthen people-to-people exchanges and cooperation in culture and arts between ASEAN…”.

The Ministers agreed to hold the 7th ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Culture and Arts Meeting in 2016 in Brunei with the theme “Culture for ASEAN’s Future Sustainable Development”; and agreed to make efforts to implement the issues raised, especially the Hue Declaration on the role of culture and sustainable development.

According to VOV