On 27 September 2022, the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) co-hosted the Mekong-Lancang World Heritage City Dialogue with Leshan Municipal Government, Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and Chongqing Municipal Culture and Tourism Development Commission. Ms. Li Yaying, Deputy Director of the Education, Culture and Tourism Division (ECTD) of ACC, Mr. Sun Sheng, Level 1 Inspector of the Foreign Affairs Office of Sichuan Province, Mr. Lu Feng, Level 2 Inspector of Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Mr. Jiang Weining, Level 1 Inspector of Chongqing Municipal Culture and Tourism Development Commission, Mr. Mu Zhongshu, Member of the Standing Committee of CPC Leshan Municipal Committee and Vice Mayor of Leshan City, as well as Ms. Wang Yan, Member of the Standing Committee of CPC Leshan Municipal Committee and Vice Mayor of Leshan City, attended the Dialogue.

Li Yaying stated in her remarks that the Joint Statement on Deepening Exchanges and Mutual Learning among Civilizations under the Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Framework issued by the 7th Mekong-Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting encourages the six countries to hold dialogues on the topic of world cultural heritage and cultural relics protection. It is the right time to hold the dialogue in this context. It is hoped that all participants could take this opportunity to strengthen policy communication, deepen exchanges and cooperation, and promote common development. ACC is ready to join hands with all parties, elevate the cooperation and create a better future for the people in the region.  

With the theme of “World Heritage Conservation and Sustainable Tourism Development”, the dialogue was held both online and offline, aiming at implementing the consensus reached at the 7th MLC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in July this year. Representatives from culture and tourism authorities and world heritage cities of Mekong countries such as Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Thailand shared their best practices and experiences on world heritage protection and tourism development. They also conducted in-depth exchanges with representatives and experts from culture and tourism departments of Leshan and Chongqing, as well as the world heritage protection institutions of Sichuan-Chongqing region. The attendees expressed their willingness to further cooperate with ACC in order to strengthen communication and cooperation, improve the dialogue and cooperation mechanism, promote culture and tourism flagship projects, and achieve more fruitful outcomes from people-to-people exchanges and practical cooperation in the sub-region.