Ninh Binh is exploiting its valuable resources.

Besides the socio -economic and environmental pillars, culture is considered the third pillar ensuring sustainable development, serving as a spiritual foundation and a resource for growth. Ninh Binh has clearly recognized, appreciated, and effectively utilized this resource in practice.

Recognizing valuable resources and orienting development towards a "green" direction.

Bearing the unique imprint of its community – culture is born and exists in each region, country, and ethnic group through a long process of creation, accumulation, and enduring transmission, along with adaptation and keeping pace with the trends of the times while still ensuring core values. Culture is always especially cherished and taken pride in by its owners, and also attracts people from other regions, ethnic groups, to learn about and interact with it.

This is also why culture is considered a rich and valuable resource for economic development. This is not new in many countries such as Italy, Japan, and South Korea. In Vietnam, this issue has been clarified by researchers, guided by policymakers, and implemented by localities with promising results. In Ninh Binh, culture in general, and cultural heritage in particular, has made a significant contribution to "positioning" the local brand value. From a purely agricultural province at the time of its re-establishment (1992), Ninh Binh has undergone significant transformations, becoming one of the important points on the tourism map of Vietnam and the world .

Ninh Binh 's geoeconomic and geocultural location is relatively unique. Situated at the southwestern end of the Red River Delta, it possesses distinctive natural resources in a semi-mountainous transitional region between the mountains and plains, and between the North and Central regions of Vietnam. It was the first capital of Dai Co Viet more than 1000 years ago. Ninh Binh has nearly 2000 historical and cultural relics, among which Trang An is the first and only heritage site in Southeast Asia to be inscribed by UNESCO as a "dual heritage" site, meeting both cultural and natural criteria.

This area is also considered a complete chronicle of geological, geomorphological, and environmental landscape changes, along with the habitation traditions of humankind over more than 30,000 years of formation, transformation, and development. These geographical and cultural resources have been and are being inherited by Ninh Binh in its orientation towards building and developing a heritage city, a millennium-old capital. The province has shifted its focus, allocating adequate budget for investment in physical infrastructure and transportation, restoring many festivals, preserving many historical sites, fostering cultural lifestyles, and developing tourism.

During the period 2015-2020, investment in cultural activities in Ninh Binh accounted for 3.37% of the province's total budget; in the period 2021-2025, investment in cultural projects and works accounted for 20% of the province's total medium-term public investment plan, reaching a high level compared to the rest of the country.

Source: Data from Ninh Binh Provincial People's Committee, 2022

In recent years, Ninh Binh has implemented a comprehensive set of solutions – from planning, construction, and policy formulation, to raising awareness and responsibility through communication, and organizing the implementation of economic development from "brown" to "green," from intensive exploitation leading to "abuse" and degradation of natural resources to respecting and investing heavily in the conservation of natural landscapes, and the preservation and promotion of historical and cultural values.

The implementation of the public-private partnership model has initially proven effective and has been considered "a successful model combining sustainable economic and tourism development with the central role of the people while still respecting nature" - as assessed by Ms. Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, at the 50th anniversary celebration of the UNESCO Convention on World Heritage (Ninh Binh, September 2022).

Cultural aspects of the Muong ethnic group at the Tam Coc - Trang An Golden Festival 2024. Photo: Truong Giang

A bright future and lingering concerns.

Ninh Binh's initial successes have contributed to realizing the goal of "Developing Vietnam's cultural industries into important service sectors, with significant qualitative and quantitative growth, making a positive contribution to economic growth and job creation through the production of increasingly diverse and high-quality cultural products and services," as set forth in the Strategy for the Development of Vietnam's Cultural Industries to 2020, with a vision to 2030. This has met the creative, enjoyment, and consumption needs of the people, establishing brands for cultural and tourism products and services, and contributing to promoting the image of Ninh Binh and Vietnam as a whole.

To create sustainable development and a strong impetus for Ninh Binh and similar provinces, especially in the Red River Delta region, in addition to macro-level policies, a coordination mechanism is needed: Unifying the perspective on comprehensive and sustainable development, strengthening coordination and support among localities; creating linkages in the construction and planning of development strategies for each province and city, leveraging unique strengths to create collective strength, ensuring synchronicity, harmony, and effectiveness, avoiding conflict, fragmentation, and creating unity in diversity among localities.

With its long-standing and enduring traditions, Ninh Binh can further enhance its pride and confidence in preserving and safeguarding cultural and heritage values, so that each individual, family, and community is conscious of preserving and developing its important resources in the comprehensive development of the country. And we can hope for a future of abundant new achievements not far off.

Nguyen Hai Minh

Source: https://baoninhbinh.org.vn/ninh-binh-dang-khai-thac-tai-nguyen-quy/d20240603172223153.htm