Vietnam, Russia to step up culture cooperation

Vietnam and Russia set to further boost collaboration in art and culture from 2010 to 2012 after signing a cooperation programme in Hanoi on Feb. 23. The agreement was signed between Vietnam’s Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh and Russia’s Culture Minister Alexander Alexeevich Avdeyev as part of the agenda of the Russian ranking delegation of culture officials in Vietnam from Feb. 22-24.
Under the programme, Vietnam and Russia will increase exchanges of information regarding national and international cultural activities taking place in both countries including celebrating Russian culture in Vietnam this year and a similar event honouring Vietnamese culture in Russia in 2011, said Minister Hoang Tuan Anh.
Anh said that both sides will facilitate direct cooperation between libraries, museums, archive facilities, art educating agencies, theatres, etc. of both nations in order to promote the study, restoration, preservation and promotion of cultural heritages.
Vietnam and Russia will exchange more regularly experts in music, theatre, circus and other traditional forms of art, he added.
According to Russian Minister of Culture Alexander Alexeevich Avdeyev, the Russian culture week in Vietnam scheduled to take place in November this year in Hanoi, Hue and Ho Chi Minh City will feature a myriad of cultural activities including concerts, photo exhibitions and film screenings.
Russia will dispatch artists for many important events Vietnam is set to organise this year, especially the 1,000 th birthday of Thang Long-Hanoi capital, he added.
On the same day, the visiting Russian Minister had a meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung who confirms the great importance that Vietnam attaches to fortifying and developing cultural cooperation with Russia.
“Cultural cooperation is a critical foundation for building on and developing the friendship between the two states,” PM Dung said, adding that the working visit of Minister Alekseevich will contribute to boosting the traditional friendship and cooperation between the two nations.