Japanese trust fund helps to preserve Hanoi’s citadel

The Japanese Fund-in-Trust will provide Vietnam with more than 1.1 million USD in non-refundable aid to help preserve a cultural heritage site in Hanoi. The agreement, which is valued at more than 1.2 million USD, was signed in Hanoi on January 20 in the presence of Mitsuo Sakaba, Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam, Katherine Muller-Marin, UNESCO’s representative in Vietnam, and members of Hanoi ’s authorities.
With the remaining 93,000 USD being contributed by Vietnam, the project will be completed in 36 months and starts in January this year.
It is designed to support scientific research, that assesses the archeological, architectural, and socio-economic values of Hanoi ’s former Thang Long citadel and will come up with proposals to conserve and make full use of those values.
The project will also help to develop a management plan for the site and will focus on providing Vietnamese specialists and managers with methodologies used in urban and historical archeology, as well as preservation methods and managerial skills.
Muller-Marin said that the preservation of these valuable heritages is necessary, to help enrich the younger generations’ knowledge of Hanoi and understand what helped to create the oldest capital city in Southeast Asia.
The Thang Long-Hanoi Citadel Area has been rated as a special national relic site and has been submitted to UNESCO for recognition as a world heritage.