Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Van Tho said this is an opportunity for Vietnam to advertise itself. He said that through this contest, the world will know more about Vietnam. He called for all Vietnamese people to do their part and vote.

At the ceremony, a 6-litre Hennessy Mathusalem bottle was auctioned off. The $25,000 proceeds were then presented to the Halong Bay Vietnam Management Board.

In 1962, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism arranged Halong Bay Vietnam as a National Renowned Landscape Vestige.

The bay was listed by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage site at the 18th meeting of the Committee of World Heritage of UNESCO (in Phuket, Thailand on December 17th, 1994) for its outstanding universal aesthetic value.

Then again, on December 2nd, 2000 at the 24th meeting of the Committee of World Heritage held in Cairns city, Australia, Halong Bay Vietnam was again cited as a World Natural Heritage site for its outstanding universal geological and geomorphologic value.

Halong Bay Vietnam is a nominee of the New Open World Foundation as one of the World’s 7 Natural Wonders; voting will end and results announced on 08/08/2008.