Co-chairing was Mr. Duong Xuan Huyen, Permanent Vice Chairman of Lang Son Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Festival Organizing Committee. Also attending were representatives of a number of central departments, ministries and branches; representatives of Departments, Divisions, and functional units under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and representatives of provinces/cities with delegations attending the Festival.

The 11th Northeast Ethnic Culture, Sports and Tourism Festival in Lang Son Province, 2024 is scheduled to take place from November 2 to November 4 in Lang Son City (Lang Son Province). The festival will have the participation of 8 provinces: Bac Giang, Bac Kan, Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, Vinh Phuc, Thai Nguyen and Lang Son.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai Nhung, Director of the Department of Ethnic Culture (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), this year's festival takes the theme of Northeastern Culture - Identity, integration and outreach.

Activities within the framework of the Festival include performances, introductions of festival excerpts, traditional cultural rituals of ethnic groups in the Northeast region; exhibition space to introduce and promote traditional cultural products of the locality; mass art festival and performance of costumes of ethnic groups in the Northeast region; photo exhibition of the Great Family of Ethnic Groups in the Northeast region - Preserving and promoting national cultural identity; competitions of tug of war, stick pushing, shuttlecock throwing, stilt walking; competition of tour guide skills; scientific seminar on Cultural Tourism in the Northeast region - Inspiring and developing...

The highlight of the Festival is the Opening Ceremony taking place on the evening of November 2 at the main stage of Hung Vuong Street Square (Lang Son City).

Presenting a report on preparations for the Festival, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Lang Son province Nguyen Dang An said that, closely following the plan of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, preparations for the Festival are being actively implemented by Lang Son province.

Regarding communication work, the People's Committees of districts and cities of the province have issued plans and directed specialized agencies to actively carry out propaganda and promotion work for the event. Mr. Nguyen Dang An hopes that the Festival will receive attention and promotion from news agencies.

For the opening and closing programs, the professional agency of Lang Son province has developed a framework for the art program script. During the script development process, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Lang Son province sent a document to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the provinces requesting coordination in providing information about culture, people and proposing famous songs and artists to perform the songs, so that the creative team can research and include them in the script; contributing to ensuring that the program is imbued with the cultural identity of the ethnic groups in the Northeast region.

At the meeting, delegates focused on discussing and agreeing on key tasks such as reception plans, accommodation arrangements for delegates and participating delegations; comments on the program script; rehearsal plans for the opening and closing ceremonies; communication work; preparation of other material facilities, etc.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Trinh Thi Thuy acknowledged the contributions to complete the preparations for the Festival. The Deputy Minister assessed that the preparations basically met the set progress and quality.

With the desire to have a successful Festival, leaving a deep impression on the hearts of ethnic minorities in the Northeast region, as well as the people and tourists, the Deputy Minister requested the Department of Ethnic Culture (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) and the People's Committee of Lang Son province to continue to strengthen coordination, review the contents and activities within the framework of the Festival, and avoid mistakes.

The festival must be solemn, large-scale, and reflect the correct theme. Activities must be linked to political and cultural events of the country, region, and locality; and appropriate to the actual situation.

In particular, Deputy Minister Trinh Thi Thuy requested that the activities clearly demonstrate the spirit of great solidarity of the ethnic groups in the Northeast region with the Vietnamese ethnic community; demonstrate the spirit of sharing with the ethnic groups who have suffered great losses due to Typhoon Yagi and the recent historic flood. Along with that is the spirit of overcoming difficulties and rising up of the ethnic groups to contribute to the economic, social and cultural development of the country.

One of the contents that Deputy Minister Trinh Thi Thuy paid special attention to was the art program of the Opening Ceremony. The Deputy Minister stated that the art performances in the program need to be carefully selected, have highlights, and choose the most valuable details to express the cultural characteristics of the ethnic groups in the Northeast region. The commentary and images must be suitable for the performance, clearly depicting the regional cultural imprints of the provinces participating in the Festival.

The work of training, checking images and sounds took place seriously, urgently and on schedule.

Regarding communication work, the Deputy Minister suggested that it should be widely deployed before, during and after the event.

Receiving the instructions and contributions, Permanent Vice Chairman of Lang Son Provincial People's Committee Duong Xuan Huyen affirmed that the Festival is an important event to promote and introduce the beauty of Lang land and people, and at the same time contribute to positioning Lang Son province's tourism brand to domestic and foreign tourists.

This event is also a practical activity to express gratitude and honor the contributions of comrade Hoang Van Thu, a typical senior leader of the Party and the Vietnamese revolution.

Mr. Duong Xuan Huyen informed that the province has assigned specialized agencies to carry out the task. Contributed opinions will be accepted and concretized in the most appropriate direction to practical conditions.

Regarding the opening program, Mr. Duong Xuan Huyen said that the script is still being consulted with each locality. The program will encourage the spirit of the ethnic groups in the Northeast region to unite, overcome difficulties, join hands to preserve and promote the cultural heritage values ​​of their people. In addition, Lang Son province also hopes that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will continue to direct and support so that the preparations for the Festival can be thorough and effective.