The event took place within the framework of the Week “Great National Solidarity – Viet Nam Cultural Heritage” and the second Muong Cultural Festival, attracting the participation of many scientists, researchers, representatives of ministries and agencies, as well as artisans and ethnic minority communities who are safeguarding traditional cultural values.
Delivering the opening remarks, Trinh Ngoc Chung, Director of the Department of Ethnic Culture of Viet Nam, affirmed that the preservation and promotion of traditional cultural values of ethnic minorities has always been given attention by the Party and the State through specific guidelines, policies and mechanisms. Numerous festivals, customs and practices have been restored and widely promoted, demonstrating the effectiveness of these policies in practice.
To concretise and continue implementing tasks in cultural affairs in general, and in promoting the traditional cultural values of ethnic minorities in the coming period, the key task is to link cultural preservation with tourism development; to transform the cultural values of ethnic communities into economic products that both improve livelihoods and spread cultural identity to the public and visitors. The opinions shared at the workshop will serve as a basis for management agencies to recommend that competent authorities formulate sustainable mechanisms and policies, contributing to safeguarding cultural identity and promoting socio-economic development in localities.
Culture is always regarded as an important resource for sustainable development, contributing to economic growth, poverty reduction and improved quality of life. In the context of deep integration and the strong development of science, technology and artificial intelligence, the preservation and promotion of ethnic minority cultural values have become increasingly more strategic and long-term tasks. This requires not only safeguarding traditions but also ensuring their relevance in modern economic and social life.
Speaking at the workshop, Associate Professor, Doctor Lam Ba Nam, Chair of the Vietnam Ethnological and Anthropological Association, emphasised that each ethnic group possesses a rich repository of knowledge accumulated through generations, relating to life, production and interaction with the environment. This is an especially valuable resource that must be respected and properly harnessed in the process of sustainable development. He stated that it is time to “awaken” the cultural value systems of each ethnic group. Besides the Party’s and the State’s guidelines and policies, most importantly for sustainable tourism development, the ethnic culture itself must be the core essence.
Sharing perspectives on the need to balance preservation and development, Associate Professor, Doctor Nguyen Duy Thieu (Vietnam Ethnological and Anthropological Association) emphasised that the principle of preservation must be prioritised, without trading cultural values for short-term benefits. The promotion of cultural values must be sustainable and bring long-term benefits to communities. He suggested solutions such as developing sustainable tourism strategies; controlling tourism scale; investing in responsible community-based tourism; training local people in tourism business skills and service quality improvement while preserving cultural identity; and enhancing the application of technology in heritage management and promotion.
The workshop received more than 100 academic and policy papers from scientists and representatives of localities. Many in-depth contents reflected practical issues. These insights form an important basis for competent authorities to propose that the Government develop a decree on preserving and promoting the traditional cultural values of ethnic minorities, while also orienting building of cultural tourism brands in ethnic minority regions in the coming period.
