2014 Hue Festival to feature 68 art troupes   Cuban art troupe in the 2012 Hue Festival (Photo: VNA) As many as 68 art groups with about 1,400 artists from 38 countries across the world have so far registered to participate in the 2014 Hue Festival, which is slated for April 12-20 in the former imperial city of Hue. The eighth event of its kind, the biennial festival will serve as a venue for ancient capital cities and typical cultural areas in Vietnam and the world. Themed “Cultural Heritage with Integration and Development”, the festival is part of the East Asian-Latin American cultural exchange forum held by Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to Vice Chairman of the Thua Thien-Hue provincial People’s Committee Ngo Hoa, head of the event’s management board, the festival will contribute to promoting the locality’s socio-economic development. For the first time, 15-minute firework performances will take place at the opening and closing ceremonies of the festival, he said.  Famous French photographer Sebastienne Laval will exhibit his photos of ethnic minority groups of Vietnam at Truong Tien Bridge during the festival. The festival will include an Ao dai show and exhibitions featuring Hue kite flying, calligraphy, food demos and street performances, among others. Vietnam will, for the first time, welcome world famous guests such as Brazil’s Sururu Na Roda band, Japan’s Bati-Holic drum troupe, and the Palestinian folk dance collective Asayel to the event. Nha Nhac – the royal court music and dance of Hue which has been named by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity - will be highlighted at the festival. A similar variant of this elegant music is popular in Japan, where it is known as “Gegaku”, is also expected to charm audiences. Trade fairs, conferences and tourism promotion activities will also be held in the framework of the event. Among those will be the ASEAN+3 Ministerial Meeting on Culture and Fine Arts from April 16-21. Hoa added France’s Poitou – Charentes region, which has assisted the locality in organising the Hue Festival since 2000, is still a major partner of this year’s event. Apart from the event, the region has also supported the central province in improving the quality of human resources in the tourism field, promoting cultural heritage preservation and international cooperation, and developing eco-tourism.  The 2014 Hue Festival is expected to attract 200,000 visitors, half of them will be foreigners. Preparations for the festival have been basically completed. The provincial Hotel Association has undertaken to supply 526 accommodation facilities with more than 10,000 rooms to serve tourists during the event. Eleven hotels in the city have also registered to provide 1,000 free rooms worth one billion VND for the festival.-VNA