Continuing to promote cooperation between Vietnam and the United Nations Tourism Organization

Photo caption — Minister Nguyen Van Hung affirmed that the Vietnamese Party and State always pay special attention to the cause of cultural and human development. Photo: VNA

Accompanying the Minister were Mr. Doan Thanh Song - Ambassador of Vietnam to Spain, Director of the Department of International Cooperation Nguyen Phuong Hoa, Director of the Institute of Culture, Arts, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong. On the side of UN Tourism, there were Mr. Beka Jakeli - Head of the External Relations Department, Ms. Sandra Carvao - Head of the Market Information, Policy and Competition Department and officers from the Asia - Pacific Tourism Office.

At the working session, reviewing the results of cooperation between Vietnam and UN Tourism, Mr. Beka Jakeli - Head of the Foreign Affairs Department affirmed that the visit and work of Minister Nguyen Van Hung had a historic significance. He said that the Secretary General and senior leaders of UN Tourism highly appreciated the role and contribution of Vietnam in the world's most important multilateral mechanism on tourism, affirming that since joining the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO, the predecessor of UN Tourism) since 1981, Vietnam has shown its role as an active and responsible member, regularly organizing important events of world tourism in particular and UN Tourism in general.

In particular, in December 2024, Vietnam successfully organized two important events of UN Tourism, namely the Second Annual Meeting of the World's Best Tourism Village Network and the First International Conference on Rural Tourism, in which it built and implemented orientations and priorities on a global scale for rural tourism, thereby creating conditions for the development of community tourism, strengthening the connection and resonance between the tourism industry and agriculture , contributing to the development and change of the face of rural areas, creating jobs and sustainable livelihoods for people, including women, towards the implementation of sustainable development goals within the framework of the 2030 Agenda.

Speaking at the meeting, Minister Nguyen Van Hung affirmed that Vietnam is interested in strengthening cooperation with UN Tourism, and proposed that the viewpoint and orientation for developing cooperation between Vietnam and UN Tourism should be implemented according to the motto: "The more coordination, the more understanding, the more practical and the more effective", focusing on utilizing and promoting available resources to achieve the most optimal cooperation results.

Minister Nguyen Van Hung sincerely thanked UN Tourism for closely coordinating with Vietnam to successfully organize the first International Conference on Rural Tourism in December 2024 in Quang Nam province, thereby resonating and strongly promoting the similarity in policies and awareness, thereby leading to specific coordination activities between Vietnam and UN Tourism on tourism development associated with agriculture, rural areas and farmers.

In particular, Vietnam's viewpoint that "strong villages and communes will make the country strong, prosperous and powerful" as well as the orientation and desire to develop Vietnam's brands in rural tourism, including the Best Tourism Village titles recognized by UN Tourism, are all focused on and closely linked to the trend of green tourism and responsible tourism in the world, contributing to the sustainable development of countries and the international community.

On this occasion, Minister Nguyen Van Hung discussed with UN Tourism about the experience shared by Vietnam at the World Conference on Cultural Policy and Sustainable Development on the model of linking tourism and culture towards sustainable development goals and the UN Agenda 2030 at the World Cultural and Natural Heritage Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex (Ninh Binh province) which has been recognized and highly appreciated by international friends, in which a number of countries wish to study and apply it in practice in their countries.

Minister Nguyen Van Hung affirmed that Vietnam has truly overcome the unprecedented difficulties and challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and achieved impressive growth in recent times, aiming to welcome 22-23 million international tourists in 2025. Tourism has truly become a bright spot in the economic development picture and become a spearhead economic sector of Vietnam.

Regarding the direction of cooperation in the coming time, the two sides discussed expanding cooperation in important areas such as medical tourism and health care; implementing tourism planning in the context that Vietnam has completed the process of rearranging the administrative boundaries of provinces and cities nationwide; promoting tourism promotion through platforms, taking advantage of advances and achievements in science and technology development; cooperating in the process of researching, amending and supplementing the Law on Tourism...

UN Tourism respectfully invited Minister Nguyen Van Hung to attend the 3rd Annual Meeting of the World's Best Tourism Village Network and the 2025 World's Best Tourism Village Awards Ceremony, held from October 17-18, 2025 in Huzhou, China, and the 26th Session of the UN Tourism General Assembly, held from November 7-11, 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Minister Nguyen Van Hung sincerely thanked UN Tourism for its attention to the development of Vietnam's tourism, affirming that the leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will arrange to attend the above important events of the world tourism industry.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/tiep-tuc-phat-huy-hop-tac-giua-viet-nam-va-to-chuc-du-lich-lhq-20251002160331162.htm