Hoi An worries about international cooperation

A cultural exchange activity of Hoi An City Culture, Information and Tourism Center in Wernigerode City (Germany) in 2023 - Photo: HOI AN CULTURAL AND TRADING CENTER

Twinned with 20 cities

Mr. Nguyen Van Lanh - Vice Chairman of Hoi An City People's Committee said that Hoi An has cooperative and twinned relations with 20 cities in many countries around the world such as Germany, Hungary, Australia, Japan, Korea, China, Laos... In particular, with Japan, Hoi An has twinned with 6 cities. Typically, some cities have had twinned relations for more than 10 years such as Wernigerode (Germany), Szentendre (Hungary)...

Through this relationship, cultural and people-to-people exchanges take place every year; research on heritage conservation, environmental protection, urban development and sustainable tourism. From there, the image of Hoi An is promoted widely and regularly around the world, contributing to establishing the city’s reputation and position…

“Currently, we have not received any guidance or plans. In the near future, the district-level model will no longer exist and we do not know how to maintain these twinning relationships,” Mr. Lanh shared.

According to the proposal, after the reorganization, Hoi An City will have 3 wards and 1 commune. According to the leader of the Hoi An City Center for Culture, Sports and Information, during this time, some foreign partners have also learned and discussed the next developments in cooperation and twinning, especially in the fields of cultural and artistic exchange, but the unit does not know how to respond because it has not received specific instructions.

Global urban branding

It can be affirmed that Hoi An City is not only an administrative designation but also a globally famous urban brand and class. This is demonstrated through dozens of titles voted by international organizations, especially tourism titles.

Many years ago, the local government also set the goal of building Hoi An into a cultural, ecological and tourist city, and identified inclusiveness and humanity as the key issue throughout development.

Most recently, at the end of 2023, Hoi An joined the UNESCO Global Creative Cities Network in two areas: crafts and folk arts. Therefore, the loss of the city title also raises issues that need to be calculated and resolved to ensure that foreign affairs work is consistent and effective.

“The eligibility to participate will certainly be affected because in the past, Hoi An City was a common creative home covering all handicrafts and folk arts in the whole Hoi An area, but now it is not known whether to hand it over to the ward or the (new) Da Nang City to continue implementing. It is really confusing, so we have to wait until the arrangement is stable to calculate” - Mr. Lanh shared more.

Mr. Nguyen Van Son - Chairman of Hoi An City People's Committee admitted that participating in the creative city network will have an impact, but in the current situation, it is impossible to calculate anything. Therefore, for now, we still have to wait for instructions from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Da Nang City (new).

“Of course, from my point of view, I think there are still reasonable solutions such as moving back to Da Nang City to re-register to participate from the beginning in another field or on the existing foundation of Hoi An, Da Nang can continue to develop… so we must continue to discuss” - Mr. Son said.

At the same time, Mr. Son also affirmed that everything has a satisfactory solution, including maintaining the sister relationship between Hoi An and cities around the world, because most sister relationships mainly come from feelings and are not based on scale or proportional area...

“Among the 20 cities with sister city and cooperative relationships, besides the big cities, there are still many cities smaller than Hoi An, so if the relationship is transferred to the ward level, it is not a problem.

I think it is possible to transfer to the central ward (the ward with the old quarter) to continue maintaining the sister city relationship with small cities. Particularly for sister cities with large scale equivalent to provincial level such as Kawasaki or Sakai (Japan)... it can be transferred to Da Nang City" - Mr. Son suggested.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/hoi-an-ban-khoan-ve-quan-he-hop-tac-quoc-te-3153031.html