Hue is the third city, after Cebu (The Philippines) and Singapore, becoming ASEAN City of Culture. This is the land of history, poetic and beautiful nature, also a place of reserving the value of tangible and intangible cultural heritages, including relics of Hue Citadel and Nha Nhac (Hue Royal Court Music) once recognized by UNESCO as world cultural heritages. In recent years, many cultural events are held in Hue. For example, Hue Festival, an international event, is held every two years. The purposes of these events are to promote Hue tourism, the image of Vietnam, Vietnamese people and culture; to expand exchanges and cooperation to promote economic development; to contribute to affirming the rich cultural identity of Hue, the city of heritage and tourism of Vietnam.
After receiving the title of “ASEAN City of Culture”, the Chairman of Hue People’s Committee, Mr. Nguyen Van Cao pledged to have a detailed plan and program on introducing Vietnamese in general and Hue people in particular the image of ASEAN community, at the same time promulgating Hue culture to the region and the world. The targets of Hue after receiving this tittle are to bring achievements into play, and to promulgate the image of peaceful, civilized ASEAN community with happy and comprehensively developed people. In the process of introducing, promoting the image of ASEAN community, many activities of cultural heritage value of preservation and promotion will take place in Hue, the ancient capital, in the integration and development phase. At the same time, exchanges, cooperation and community stability of ASEAN and the region will be focused through regional tourism cooperation, conferences, workshops, and cultural activities like cultural festivals, exhibits, and trade shows.
Mr. Nguyen Van Cao also thanked the Government, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, other ASEAN countries and international friends for supporting Hue during that time. He also expressed his wish of continuing to receive the attention and support in promoting the image of the country, people and culture from ASEAN community. By virtue of this, culture will be truly a cultural bridge between nations and peoples with the aims of building a world of peace, stability and prosperity, making Hue really a place of cultural exchange. Thereby, promoting the conservation and promulgation of cultural heritages, development of economy will be strengthened to be worthy of the title "ASEAN City of Culture". In two-year term, Hue will play its part in enhancing exchanges, cooperation with other cultures and civilizations in ASEAN.
With this great tittle, Hue also has to establish the cultural identity of ASEAN. With the topic “raising the cultural role in the stable development of ASEAN”, the ministerial conference focuses on discussing and concretizing pledges given, strengthening ASEAN community, and promoting partnership with other countries to share experiences on developing art and culture. In terms of the role of culture for sustainable development of ASEAN community, utilization of knowledge, science, technology and art forms to improve the quality of material and spiritual life in ASEAN, a wealthy and prosperous community will be established in the near future.