Reviewing the draft project of establishment, construction and development of Lang Son province’s Geopark in the phase of 2021 – 2025

– On the morning of October 20, Mr. Duong Xuan Huyen, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee, Head of The Steering Committee for the construction of the province’s Global Geopark chaired a seminar in reviewing the draft project of the establishment, construction and development of the provincial Geopark in the phase 2021 – 2025 and related documents.

Attending the seminar were experts, leaders of the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment; members of the Steering Committee for the construction of the province’s Global Geopark…

According to the draft, Lang Son Geopark is located in the southwest of the province, including the entire Bac Son limestone mountain range, in 5 districts: Bac Son, Binh Gia, Van Quan, Chi Lang and Huu Lung with a total area of 3,845.8 km2, population of 375,656 people, equivalent to about 46.3% of the area and 48.1% of the province’s population. The implementation period from 2021 to 2024 is divided into 2 groups of work, 14 component projects with a total estimated cost of more than 26 billion VND.

Mr. Duong Xuan Huyen, Standing Vice Chairman of Provincial People’s Committee, Head of Steering Committee for Construction of the province’s Global Geopark speaks at the meeting

The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism was assigned by the Provincial People’s Committee to be the unit in charge of implementing, setting up the process of developing a dossier to request UNESCO to recognize Bac Son limestone mountain range as a global geopark. From the beginning of 2021 up to now, the department has organized a consultation and learning in Cao Bang province; coordinated with the Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources to conduct a survey and preliminary assessment of the potential of the Geopark in the districts of Huu Lung, Chi Lang, Bac Son, Binh Gia and Van Quan. From there, determine the scope, scale and prospects for the construction of the provincial Geopark; developed a draft project on the establishment, construction and development of the provincial global Geopark and related documents.

At the seminar, the delegates expressed 13 opinions, focused on analyzing and clarifying some contents such as legal basis; scope and boundaries of the Geopark; layout and funding of 14 component projects; operating regulations, assigning tasks to members of The Steering Committee; staff work; implementation schedule…

Speaking at the seminar, Mr. Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee highly appreciated the initiative of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, at the same time, suggested the department continue to receive comments at the meeting to edit and complete the content of the draft. In which, the department focus on some main ideas such as re-study the name of the province’s Geopark; agreed to implement the project in the phase of 2021 – 2025 to have better preparation time; add to the content of the project the legal basis, the urgency of the project, the specific budget estimation…

The Vice-Chairman noted that the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism need to review and supplement the specific tasks of the members of the Steering Committee for the construction of the province’s Global Geopark in the future.