International Focus Magazine Vol. 4, #4 | Page 22

travel Hanoi : a City of Peace CHAP. In the early days of 2019, the attention of the whole world was paid to Vietnam where the 2nd US- North Korea Summit was held (February 27-28, 2019). The event is more meaning- ful when 2019 marks the 20th anniversary of Hanoi being recognized as a “City for Peace” by The United Nations Educational, Scien- tific and Cultural Organiza- tion (UNESCO). Hanoi is the only Asia Pacific country granted this title by UNES- CO. 22 iF Magazine |April 2019 H H anoi is situ- ated on both sides of the Red River - an im- portant river of Vietnam’s wet rice cultivation culture, 1760 km from Ho Chi Minh City. Hanoi, the thousand-year-old cultural capital of Vietnam, features a long-term his- tory with many famous cultural and architectural works and historical rel- ics. Hanoi ranks first in the number of relics, including 3,840 out of near- ly 40,000 relics in Vietnam. Hanoi is really a big tourist center of Vietnam, one which attracts many domestic and foreign tourists. A safe and open city To be recognized by UNESCO as one of the five typical cities in the world and to represent the Asia-Pa- cific region to be granted the title of “City For Peace” by UNESCO, Ha- noi met a series of criteria such as: typical achievements in activities to improve people’s life, promote social solidarity, cultural and educational development and solve urbanization and environmental issues.… To this day Hanoi has been the only capital of the Asia-Pacific region honored as “City for peace”. The ap- preciation of the international com- munity has sharply increased the