On September 26, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism coordinated with the Hanoi People's Committee and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to hold a press conference to announce the first "World Cultural Festival in Hanoi" program. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's Standing Deputy Minister Le Hai Binh chaired the meeting.
Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister Le Hai Binh emphasized that the World Cultural Festival in Hanoi is an important initiative to honor cultural values, contributing to promoting sustainable development, connecting countries and peoples in the context of the global face with many challenges such as conflict, epidemic, climate change, etc.
The Deputy Minister also stated that this is the first event held in Vietnam. The idea of the Festival is that Vietnam can completely be a convergence of cultures around the world.
Cultural values blend together but do not lose the identity of each country, but also contribute to promoting the spirit of solidarity, together contributing to the development of the whole world.
This is also Vietnam's wish when organizing this event and also the message that Hanoi - City for Peace, a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, sent, Deputy Minister Le Hai Binh emphasized.
Director of the Department of International Cooperation Nguyen Phuong Hoa said that as of September 25, 48 embassies, international organizations and foreign cultural centers in Vietnam have registered to attend the festival.
Laos is the honorary guest of this year's Festival. Laos will send an art troupe with many artists to the Festival to perform special art performances. In addition, in the following events, each year, the Festival will have one country as a guest of honor.
The festival brings together 45 national cultural spaces, 33 food stalls, 16 domestic and international art troupes, 10 publishing units introducing books and 20 countries sending films to attend the film screening program.
At the Thang Long Imperial Citadel World Heritage Site, the festival will introduce diverse cultural quintessence from all over the continents.
Within the framework of the festival, there will be many rich activities such as: World Cultural Festival in Hanoi, international culinary programs, film screenings, international folk dances, street art, international costume and ao dai performances, international book festivals and thematic exhibitions and displays.
With the motto "Touching the heart - Towards human values", the festival is expected to become an annual foreign cultural event of Hanoi.
This is not only an opportunity to promote Vietnamese culture, but also create a forum to connect countries, promote people-to-people exchanges, enhance mutual understanding and trust between Vietnam and the international community.
The event contributes to affirming the important role and contribution of culture in the implementation of the United Nations' sustainable development goals, while spreading the message of peace and prosperity in the region and the world.
According to the plan, the festival will take place from October 3 to 5, 2025 at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel Center Relic Site. The opening ceremony was held on October 3, closing on October 5.
However, due to the serious situation of storms, floods, and landslides in the Northwestern mountainous region and in the North Central region, with many losses in human lives and property, the Organizing Committee of the World Cultural Festival in Hanoi decided to change the Festival to October 10-12, 2025.
