UNESCO promotes traditional handicrafts

      United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is developing a project to promote Vietnamese traditional handicrafts at five World Heritage sites in Viet Nam.
"Viet Nam has five World Heritage sites, all of which are good places to sell locally made traditional handicrafts," said Tran Nhat Ly of UNESCO’s Viet Nam Committee.
The five sites are Ha Long Bay, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Hue Citadel, Hoi An and My Son.
In Hue, only 20 per cent of souvenirs are made in the area, with the remaining coming from Da Nang, HCM City, Ha Noi and China.
The products are often sold without brandnames, names of producers or artisans, or product descriptions.
Nguyen Thi Phuong Cham, member of a group of project researchers, said the traditional handicraft industry in the four provinces in which the heritage sites were located faced problems, including outdated production technology.
Provincial development plans often do not include the handicraft industry and management is not unifed, Cham said.