Foreign tourists explore Independence Palace in HCM City. The city is leveraging its iconic cultural heritage to boost global integration and tourism. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — The HCM City People’s Committee has issued a comprehensive plan to implement its cultural diplomacy strategy through 2030, with a vision to 2045, aiming to promote Vietnamese and local heritage worldwide and harness soft power to drive rapid, sustainable growth.

Under the strategy, the city seeks to proactively integrate into the global cultural sphere, positioning and amplifying its brand identity as a UNESCO Creative City in Cinema.

Cultural diplomacy will be closely linked with the growth of cultural industries, trade and investment promotion, tourism, and the export of local cultural products and services.

By 2030, the southern hub aims to fully honour its commitments to UNESCO as a member of the Creative Cities Network in Cinema.

The city is set to finalise the dossier for the Củ Chi Tunnels historical relic site in 2027 to seek UNESCO World Heritage recognition, while aiming to secure at least one additional international or UNESCO title for its heritage sites during this period.

The city plans to establish and operate at least two signature international arts festivals, centred around the HCM City International Film Festival (HIFF) and the HCM City International Music Festival (HOZO).

In addition, the city will organise at least one "HCM City Day" or "HCM City Cultural Week" abroad annually, alongside activities commemorating Việt Nam Culture Day on November 24.

Digital transformation forms a core pillar of the strategy.

The city targets 100 per cent digitisation of its cultural heritage at all levels between 2026 and 2027.

By 2028 at the latest, it will launch a multilingual digital database and content repository covering culture, heritage, and tourism, integrated with the national cultural database and the official national promotion platform, Vietnam.vn.

To achieve these goals, the city has outlined six key task groups focusing on policy framework refinement, high-quality human resource development, modernised global branding, digital cultural development, global creative ecosystem integration, and the mobilisation of overseas Vietnamese communities.

The city’s Department of Culture and Sports has been assigned as the lead coordinator to execute the plan, draft the action programme for the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, complete the Củ Chi Tunnels dossier, and build the multilingual digital database.

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs will integrate cultural diplomacy into annual external affairs programmes and coordinate international communications efforts. — VNS