Performing arts, exhibitions included

The Ho Chi Minh City-Gyeongju World Culture Expo 2017 will run in the Vietnamese city for 25 days from November 9 and December 3. The culture expo, co-hosted by Ho Chi Minh City and Gyeongju city in Korea ’s Gyeongsangbuk-do province, will feature art performances, exhibitions, movie screenings, and trade promotion activities.

Secretary General Lee Dong-woo of the Ho Chi Minh City-Gyeongju World Culture Expo 2017 (center) poses with the members of the Expo assigned to Ho Chi Minh City in Viet Nam.

A signboard hanging ceremony for the Ho Chi Minh City-Gyeongju World Culture Expo 2017 was held at the old French Cultural Center in Ho Chi Minh City at 9 a.m., September 1, with officials from Korea and Vietnam attending. Those attending the ceremony included Lee Dong-woo, secretary general, Lee Yeong-seok, global coordination director and Geum Cheol-soo, site director of the Vietnamese event, all from Gyeongju World Culture Expo, and Ho Chi Minh City officials. Officials of Gyeongju World Culture Expo are already in the Vietnamese city to coordinate the co-hosting of the Ho Chi Minh City-Gyeongju World Culture Expo 2017.

To prepare for the event, the Organizing Committee signed a letter of understanding on cooperation in the co-hosting of the expo with the North Gyeongsang provincial government, the Gyeongju municipality and the Ho Chi Minh City government in September 2016. The Joint Organizing Committee was set up early this year.

The old French Cultural Center in Ho Chi Minh City is located near key institutions including the Ho Chi Minh City municipality, its external cooperation department, and cultural department. This allows Korea’s Culture Expo officials to make easier and convenient contacts with Vietnamese officials in relation to the co-hosting of the Culture Expo.

The old French Cultural Center, which was built in the colonial era, is still beautiful. The cultural center, along with Nguyen Hue Street, 9.23 Park and the Opera House, is easily accessible. Nguyen Hue Street is a broad walking promenade in the middle of District 1 city center. In front of the People’s Committee you can find a status of Uncle Ho Chi Minh and a foundation show by night.

Gyeongju World Culture Expo staffers, who are now in Ho Chi Minh City, are working hard to make the event a great success. “With the signboard holding ceremony, we think that the event had already been kicked off, though it is still some100 days away,” said Lee Dong-woo, secretary general of Gyeongju World Culture Expo. “We will make thoroughgoing preparations for the event due to be staged in Ho Chi Minh City, including installation of facilities, checks on performances and publicity,” Lee added.

The Ho Chi Minh City-Gyeongju World Culture Expo 2017 will feature a wide variety of programs that showcase the traditional cultures of the two countries with information and communication technology, and bring to light the values of the world's historical and cultural heritages in Gyeongju and Vietnam under the theme of "The Exhibition on Civilization Exchanges through Old Sea."
The Gyeongju World Expo, which began in 1998 and was put on by the North Gyeongsang provincial government and the Gyeongju municipality will be the third of its kind to be held overseas following ones in Angkor Wat, Cambodia, in 2006, and Istanbul, Turkey, in 2013.

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