As Hue moves toward its goal of becoming a distinctive heritage city and a major cultural and tourism hub for Vietnam and Southeast Asia by 2030, external relations, particularly cultural diplomacy, are taking on a strategic role. This is what Vice Chairman of Hue City People’s Committee Tran Huu Thuy Giang announced about how Hue can turn its cultural ‘soft power’ into a driving force for sustainable socio-economic development.

If the past 5 years were a period of building a ‘data reservoir’, the next 5 years will be a time of forming a ‘data power plant’, where data is not only stored, but also harnessed to create new values. This also requires management agencies to shift from a mindset of managing data to the one of exploiting and promoting its values, bringing heritage closer to the public while opening new opportunities for economic development based on heritage.