On the occasion of Ha Long Bay being included in the list of 7 New Wonders of the World through the provisional voting results announced by the New Open World organization, on the afternoon of November 29, at the Government Guest House, the International Economic and Cultural Exchange Club under the Center for WTO Studies and International Affairs, University of Social Sciences and Humanities and VIPTOUR Company under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism coordinated with the Embassies of countries with Natural Wonders recognized through this voting round to organize the 194th regular meeting with the purpose of welcoming the "7 New Wonders of the World".The event was attended by Mr. Alberto J. Kaminker - Ambassador of Argentina, Mr. João de Mendonça Lima Neto - Ambassador of Brazil, Mr. Jerril G. Santos - Ambassador of the Philippines, Mr. Ratubatsi Super Moloi - Ambassador of South Africa, Mr. I Nyoman Gurnitha - Counselor for Culture and Social Affairs of the Embassy of Indonesia, Mr. Keum Gi Hyong, Director of the Korean Cultural Center in Vietnam. In addition, the event was also attended by Mr. El Houcine Fardani - Ambassador of Morocco and Head of the Diplomatic Corps, Mr. Saadi Salama - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Palestine and many other diplomatic representatives along with a large number of Club members, lecturers and students of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Mr. To Van Dong, Chief of Office of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism delivered a welcoming speech. He emphasized: “These wonders are bestowed by nature on each country and territory, and are also the common heritage of mankind. Together, we are determined to preserve these precious heritages with our own responsibility and with the cooperation and friendship of countries, peoples and organizations. For Vietnam, Ha Long Bay has been recognized twice by UNESCO as a world natural heritage. Since 2007, the New 7 Wonders organization has launched a vote for the 7 new natural wonders of the world, and once again Ha Long Bay has been voted as one of the 7 new natural wonders of the world”. The list of 7 new natural wonders of the world announced (in alphabetical order) is the Amazon rainforest in South America, Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, Iguazu Falls in Argentina and Brazil, Jeju Island in Korea, Komodo National Park in Indonesia, Puerto Princesa Underground River in the Philippines and Table Mountain in South Africa.
The ambassadors and counselors took turns introducing each place that made it into the list of 7 wonders with attractive and unique presentations and vivid clips and slides. There were also ambassadors and counselors who gave quite specific accounts of the voting process in their countries. The Counselor of the Indonesian Embassy said that the whole of Indonesia sent more than 40 million text messages to vote and that Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of Indonesia, personally participated in the campaign for the Komodo National Park vote. The Argentine Ambassador and the Brazilian Ambassador further clarified that these two countries share a common wonder, Iguazu Falls. The Brazilian Ambassador further explained the commonly misunderstood things about the Amazon rainforest in South America, for example, the Amazon rainforest does not belong to any one country but to 9 countries: Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Surinam and French Guyana. When introducing the strange Table Mountain of South Africa, the Ambassador jokingly said: "If you want to visit Table Mountain and our beautiful South Africa, we will immediately issue you a visa tonight". The Philippine Ambassador enthusiastically introduced the Puerto Pricesa underground river, considered the longest underground river in the world. Not only introducing the charming Jeju Island, the Director of the Korean Cultural Center also opened the presentation with a clip introducing world-famous young Korean music groups with the hottest songs today.
On the Vietnamese side, Mr. Tran Nhat Hoang, Director of the Center for Promotion of Culture, Sports and Tourism under the Department of International Cooperation (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) briefly introduced Ha Long Bay. He ended his introduction with an invitation: Ha Long is in Vietnam, so the best way for you to understand Ha Long better is to invite you to come and visit Ha Long many times. This is a truly meaningful activity, aiming to enhance the exchange of understanding and connection between countries with wonders on the final voting list, helping to foster awareness of promoting and preserving heritage, contributing to raising awareness of the value of treasures bestowed by nature.
See the beauty of the new 7 wonders here.
