Ha Giang Introduces Geopark at Geofest in Malaysia

 

The opening ceremony was attended by representatives from the Langkawi Development Authority (Lada) - the governing body of Langkawi province; Governor of Satun province, representing the Satun Geopark, Thailand; special convoy of Jeju province, representing Jeju Geopark; and Mr Tran Duc Quy, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ha Giang province, representing the Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark. 

 

Speaking at the opening ceremony, LADA Chief Executive Officer Khalid Ramli stressed that the frequent coordination and cooperation in popularising and building geoparks has elevated the position of geoparks in the Asia - Pacific region and received high appreciation from the Global Network of National Geoparks (GGN). Tran Duc Quy said he was very impressed with the warm and considerate welcome and meticulous and monumental preparation that Malaysia did for this event, adding that this was a valuable lesson for Ha Giang province on organising tourism events in the future.

 

After the opening ceremony, the Vietnamese delegation attended many activities like a fruit shaping contest, Tarak making, shadow drama, folk dancing, photo galleries, tourism fairs, local item selling, field visits to Langkawi research and development units, seminars on geology, and others.

 

The Ha Giang delegation actively introduced the Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark and local products at the exhibition, while learning from the tourism development experience of Langkawi, including research on tourism trails, branding and conferencing.

 

During the trip, Vice Chairman of Ha Giang Provincial People's Committee Tran Duc Quy paid a courtesy visit to the Embassy of Vietnam in Kuala Lunpur, Malaysia and presented the Certificate of Appreciation of the Ha Giang Provincial People's Committee to Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia Pham Cao Phong, who was also the former head of UNESCO Vietnam External Culture Department, for his great contributions to the development of the Dong Van Karst Plateau Global Geopark in the 2010-2014 period. Ha Giang province also asked the embassy to introduce the geopark and Ha Giang tourism in Malaysia, and assist the province to boost international cooperation. Ambassador Pham Cao Phong appreciated Ha Giang province’s efforts for its economic, cultural and tourism development, and suggested the province keep in touch with Vietnamese embassies worldwide and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in external culture and international tourism development.