The World Heritage Committee [8],
1. Commends the State Party for continuing various aspects of the management of Ha Long Bay, particularly those pertaining to visitor management in caves and to the World Heritage property;
2. Notes with appreciation the State Party's provision of information on the work plan for the environmental management of Ha Long Bay World Heritage property by letter dated 8 April 2003;
3. Requests IUCN and the World Heritage Centre to review the information provided and co-operate with the State Party to find ways and means of expediting the implementation of the Government of Vietnam/Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Environmental Management Plan;
4. Urges the State Party to provide a report describing:
(a) trends in the numbers of people living inside the World Heritage area in boats,
(b) extent of prawn culture cultivation in and around Ha Long Bay World Heritage area,
(c) potential impacts of (a) and (b) on the integrity of the World Heritage property to the World Heritage Centre by 1 February 2004 in order that the World Heritage Committee can examine the state of conservation of the property at its 28th session in 2004.
[8] Decision adopted without discussion