Media Advisory: UNESCO Director-General to visit Viet Nam and inaugurate two Category 2 Centres

At the invitation of the Vietnamese Government and the authorities of Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City, the Director-General will undertake her visit in the two cities over the span of the four-day visit.

During her stay in Ha Noi, the Director-General will inaugurate, together with H.E. Mr Chu Ngoc Anh, Minister of Science and Technology, the International Centres of Research and Postgraduate Training on Mathematics and Physics as Category 2 Centres under the auspices of UNESCO. Both Centres are hosted by the Viet Nam Academy of Science and Technology.

Throughout the visit, Ms. Bokova will meet with high-ranking officials of the Vietnamese Government, including, the President of the National Assembly of Viet Nam, the Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, the Minister of Science and Technology, the Minister of Education and Training, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Chairperson of the Viet Nam National Commission for UNESCO to discuss measures to strengthen collaboration for Viet Nam's socio-economic development in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and UNESCO and Viet Nam's own Memorandum of Understanding 2016-2020.

The Director-General's programme will also include cultural visits to the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2014, a property where archaeological excavations testify to continued human settlement spanning more than 30,000 years, as well as important cultural and historical venues in in Ho Chi Minh City.

A current member of the Organization's Executive Board, Viet Nam is of the 8 piloting countries of the "Delivering as One" Initiative and is considered to be one of the leading countries in the reform initiative with the presence of the Green One UN House. The UNESCO Director-General will tour the Green One UN House and meet with the UN Resident Coordinator, Mr Kamal Malhotra, other UN colleagues and members of the UNESCO Ha Noi Office.

This visit will celebrate UNESCO's fruitful partnership with Viet Nam, and show its success rests on the convergence between the Organization's soft power agenda and the country's longstanding tradition of investing in education, science, culture and communication as crucial tools for inclusive sustainable development.

For more information, please contact:

• Ms. Christine Hanna, Communications and Reporting Officer, UNESCO Ha Noi Office at c.hanna(at)unesco.org, +84 02438500186
• Ms. Hoang Minh Nguyet, Communication and Information Programme Coordinator, at hm.nguyet(at)unesco.org, +84 02438500361