CityNews – A forum will be held this Sunday to discuss Chiang Mai’s bid to be included on the Unesco World Heritage List.
The event in Bangkok is being organised by the Fine Arts Department so participants can brainstorm ideas, exchange opinions and develop plans for the city if it is included, the National News Bureau of Thailand (NNT) reported.
The director-general of the department, Anek Sihamart, said a proposal entitled Monuments, Sites and Cultural Landscape of Chiang Mai, Capital of Lanna, would be submitted to Unesco after the department conducts a study on the province’s readiness and the participation of local people.
The Chiang Mai city area meets Unesco’s four selection criteria – town-planning, diversity, important interchange of human values and exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition, NNT said.
Pornchai Jitnavasathien, president of the Chiang Mai Tourism Business Association, said it is giving its full support to the bid.
If it is approved by Unesco, Chiang Mai would be the fourth World Heritage site in Thailand, after Ayutthaya, Sukhothai and the Ban Chiang archeological site.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) includes places of special cultural and physical significance on its list of World Heritage sites.