Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Vietnam, U.S. to strengthen collaboration on culture, tourism


vietmaz.com

Vietnam and the U.S. will strengthen cooperation in the fields of culture and tourism, the countries’ representatives said this week.
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On Monday, Vietnamese Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh met with U.S. Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel within the framework of the event titled “Vietnamese Cultural Days in the U.S.”
At the meeting, the Vietnamese minister delivered a thank you to the U.S. Department of State for collaborating with the Vietnamese culture ministry in organizing the “Vietnamese Cultural Days in the U.S.” event, and highly appreciated the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation for supporting Vietnam’s cultural heritage preservation and sponsoring the culture, sports and tourism sectors in Vietnam through NGOs.
The event, taking place from August 8 to 12 in Washington, D.C. and New York City, features a fashion show and three artistic programs, aims at celebrating the 20th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the U.S. (1995 – 2015).
Minister Hoang Tuan Anh also explained that Vietnam and the U.S. have boosted exchanges in the fields of art and sports, as well as cooperated in tourism development.
Especially, the U.S. has recently become the leading foreign investor in Vietnam’s tourism.
The number of American tourists coming to Vietnam has increased steadily. More than 300,000 tourists from the U.S. visited Vietnam in the first seven months of this year.
Meanwhile, the Vietnamese government is creating favorable conditions for American tourists by extending their visas from three months to one year, and expects to welcome one million American visitors to the country by 2017.
Minister Anh proposed that the two countries should strengthen cooperation in culture, sports and tourism, including developing the workforce for cinematography, dancing, music and performing arts.
He also asked the U.S. to assist Vietnam in finding a location to build a Vietnamese cultural center in the U.S. and sponsor projects to translate American literary works into Vietnamese and vice versa.
In tourism, Minister Anh suggested that the two sides sign state-level agreements and create conditions for the two countries’ tourism associations and enterprises to work and exchange experience in managing and developing tourism together.
Under Secretary Stengel agreed with the Vietnamese minister’s review of the two countries’ cooperation, and emphasized that boosting cooperation in culture, sports and tourism is necessary.
On the occasion, via Under Secretary Stengel, Minister Anh presented the Vietnamese – English bilingual versions of Vietnam’s renowned epic poem, “Truyen Kieu” (the Tale of Kieu), to President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry and Senator John McCain.

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