Opening of the 2025 International Craft Village Conservation and Development Festival

Not only displaying quintessential products, the 2025 International Craft Village Conservation and Development Festival also creates a space for exchange, sharing, learning and commercial connection.

On the evening of November 14, the Hanoi People's Committee coordinated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to organize the Opening Ceremony of the International Craft Village Conservation and Development Festival 2025 (Craft Village Festival). The event is a practical activity to celebrate the traditional day of the Agriculture and Environment sector, and to celebrate major holidays of the Capital and the Country in 2025.

Panorama of the opening ceremony of the International Craft Village Conservation and Development Festival 2025. Photo: Phuong Linh.

In his opening speech, Mr. Nguyen Duc Trung, Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee, said that this year's Festival is not only a place to display quintessential products but also a space for exchange, sharing, learning and commercial connection. This is also an opportunity for domestic and international artisans to enjoy and experience the culinary culture of OCOP Vietnam, where each dish is also a "storytelling identity", a thread connecting culture - people - nature.

"This year, the Hanoi International Craft Village Festival is held in a unique blend of the Flower Festival and the Craft Village Festival. The blooming flowers and the talented hands of artisans from all over the world will together light up the thousand-year-old Thang Long. Flowers are the symbol of beauty, of growth; craft villages are the crystallization of hands and intelligence. That blend is the message: Culture and creativity - connecting to spread, integrating to develop.

The event is also a vivid demonstration of the Party's orientation on building and developing Vietnamese culture: both preserving heritage and creating new values, making culture an endogenous resource and driving force for sustainable development," he shared.

According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Trung, Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee, the Festival is a space for exchange, sharing, learning and commercial connection between Vietnam and international friends. Photo: Phuong Linh.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Vo Van Hung, the 2025 Festival will not only honor the quintessence of Vietnamese crafts, but also open its arms to international friends, where craft villages from around the world converge and shine. Here, we can admire the exquisite ceramic art of Japan, silk weaving of Thailand, silver carving of Laos, brocade weaving of Indonesia, wood carving of India, delicate hand embroidery of France, and traditional weaving of African countries.

Each product is a story - a unique cultural slice, contributing to the colorful picture of the quintessence of human craftsmanship. Whether coming from Asia, Europe, Africa or Latin America, we all meet at the same point: love of work, cultural pride and the desire to create beauty. The meeting between Vietnamese and international artisans at the Festival is not only a professional exchange, but also a cultural dialogue, where national identities blend, together towards the common value of preserving, creating and spreading human beauty.

Deputy Minister Vo Van Hung expressed that the meeting between Vietnamese and international artisans at the Festival is not only a professional exchange, but also a profound cultural dialogue. Photo: Phuong Linh.

"This year's Festival is therefore not only a cultural and commercial festival, but also a bridge for cooperation, creativity and sustainable development. This is also a meaningful activity in the series of events celebrating the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day September 2, an opportunity for us to honor our heritage, arouse national pride and aspirations for national development in the era of integration.

Looking to the future, we believe that Vietnam's rural industry and craft villages will continue to develop strongly, both preserving cultural heritage and improving competitiveness and added value of products, contributing to job creation, increasing income, protecting the environment and building increasingly rich and civilized Vietnamese countryside," Deputy Minister Hung shared.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan (center) and leaders visit the booth at the Festival. Photo: Phuong Linh.

Within the framework of the program, the World Craft Council (WCC) will conduct an assessment and recognition of two typical craft villages of Hanoi - Son Dong (fine art lacquer sculpture) and Chuyen My (mother-of-pearl lacquer inlay) to become official members of the WCC, inheriting the achievements of Bat Trang Ceramics and Van Phuc Silk, two craft villages that have been registered in the World Network of Creative Craft Cities. This is a step forward to affirm Hanoi's position as a leading craft creative center in the Asia-Pacific region.

The 2025 International Craft Village Conservation and Development Festival will take place from November 14-18 at Thang Long Imperial Citadel, aiming at sustainable development with the pillars of green craft villages, ecology, digital transformation and Net-Zero goals.

The event brings together representatives from more than 30 countries and territories along with thousands of artisans, experts, entrepreneurs and policymakers, turning the space of more than 4,000 m² into an international cultural forum, spreading the quintessence of traditional crafts.

The festival includes spaces to honor international-standard craft villages; heritage exhibition areas and typical craft villages across the country; as well as exhibition areas on craft village tourism, green economy, digital transformation and Net-Zero. International artisan-artist exchanges, art performances and OCOP cuisine are held throughout, combined with a series of seminars, trade and investment promotion, handicraft competitions and fairs on craft villages and safe agricultural products of Hanoi.

Source: https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/khai-mac-festival-bao-ton-va-phat-trien-lang-nghe-quoc-te-2025-d784359.html