Ly Son – Sa Huynh Geopark possesses rich values of archaeology, tourism and Sa Huynh Culture. (Photo: zing.vn)

Addressing the conference, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of Vietnam's National UNESCO Committee, Le Hoai Trung, applauded that Quang Ngai’s research on Ly Son – Sa Huynh Geopark, which has been carried out since 2015, manifested in the province’s commitment and vision to build a sustainable economic development model while protecting the environment and biological diversity.

For his part, the Secretary of Quang Ngai Provincial Party Committee, Le Viet Chu, stressed that the local authorities have worked on the planning of Ly Son – Sa Huynh Geopark as a new approach to promote sustainable development.

The province has remarkably completed its surveys and research for the development of the geopark with the enthusiastic support from experts of the UNESCO-assisted Global Geoparks Network and Vietnam's National UNESCO Committee as well as from scientists both at home and abroad.

Accordingly, the area is designated to cover 2,000km2 of land, accounting for 39% of the province’s total area, and 2,600km2 of water surface, including 130km of coastline. The area possesses rich values of archaeology, tourism and Sa Huynh Culture.

Four tours to the geopark have been put into operation and a dossier on the site has been prepared in a joint effort to seek UNESCO’s recognition with Global Geo-Park status by the end of this year.

At the conference, experts, scientists and geologists presented 17 reports and speeches briefing their research outcomes on Sa Huynh culture and the geological value of Ly Son – Sa Huynh Geopark.

The participants also shared their experiences in managing a geopark in order to help the local authorities in designing a plan to preserve and promote the value of the heritages in accordance with international standards.