Hanoi (VNA) - On the occasion of the Year of the Dragon 2024, Central Party Committee member, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung shared with VietnamPlus about the role of culture, sports, and tourism for the sustainable national development.
Building policies and unlocking resources
- Minister, in 2023, the country had overcome various difficulties and challenges, gaining significant developments. Could you please provide an overall assessment of the sector's achievements in the past year?
Minister Nguyen Van Hung: The accomplishments and remarkable landmarks in the fields of culture, sports, and tourism in 2023 are vivid evidence of the increasingly profound evaluation and attention of the Party, State, and our people to the cause of building and promoting Vietnam's advanced culture imbued with national identity.
Firstly, we can observe a significant change in the mindset, awareness, and actions of Party committees, authorities, people, and business community regarding the position and role of culture.
Changes in awareness have translated into very specific actions. Investment in culture at the local level in 2023 reached a proportion of over 2% of the total local budget expenditure. At the national level, resources allocated for cultural investment were approved by the National Assembly for the first time at 1.8%. The government prioritized allocating 1,428 billion VND for 17 provinces/cities to implement 17 projects for the restoration and enhancement of UNESCO-listed sites, particularly national heritage sites, and exemplary national heritage sites.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has strongly transformed its mindset from "cultivating culture" to "state management of culture," creating policies and unlocking resources to revive and develop culture.
Secondly, the entire sector focused on providing accurate and timely advice to the Party committees on implementing the Party's views on culture. Activities commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Outline of Vietnamese Culture were widespread, emphasizing national, cultural, and family values, as well as the standards of Vietnamese people in the modern era. This quantification of cultural values has been used by many provincial Party committees as the basis for issuing resolutions on culture, acknowledging positive changes in cultural awareness.
The work of building a cultural environment linked to cultivating cultured individuals has progressed in the right direction. Vibrant practical experience has led to the emergence and expansion of new models and effective approaches. This has contributed to the construction of a foundation of good ethics and the "virtuous and beautiful" values of individuals, leading to increasingly better and happier lives for families and society.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism encourages Vietnamese athletes. (Photo: Nam Nguyen/Vietnam+)
Thirdly, a deeper understanding of the cultural role as a driving force for sustainable national development has led to concerted efforts from all levels and sectors. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has closely coordinated with relevant agencies and localities to enhance the scale and quality of cultural events at regional and national levels.
Artistic programs, film exhibitions, art galleries, and museums have become diverse in form, rich in genre, and distinctive in content. They not only meet political requirements and people's cultural needs, but also serve commemorative activities and reinforce national unity while promoting the image of the homeland to attract tourists, contributing to economic development.
A highlight was the successful organization of the First National Conference on the Development of Vietnam's Cultural Industries by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Fourthly, preparations have been made to report to the Politburo on the 10-year implementation of Resolution No. 08-NQ/TW dated December 1, 2011, on strengthening the Party's leadership and fostering robust development in sports until 2020.
Vietnamese sports teams have achieved remarkable results, leading the overall delegation and surpassing set targets at the SEA Games held in Cambodia. They have performed well at the 19th Asian Games in China, Olympic qualifiers, and various regional, continental, and global sporting events, yielding promising outcomes. Additionally, the National Women's Football Team secured their first-ever participation in the World Cup.
Fifthly, tourism has achieved remarkable milestones, actively contributing to the country's economic growth. In 2023, the total number of international tourists reached 12.5 million, surpassing the set target of 8 million and meeting the adjusted goal. The total number of domestic tourists reached 108 million, exceeding the plan by 5.8%. Tourism revenue reached 672 trillion VND, exceeding the annual plan by 3.38%. Vietnam was honored as the 4th leading World Heritage Destination at the 2023 World Tourism Awards ceremony.
Sixthly, cultural diplomacy efforts have been actively pursued. Vietnam was elected as a member of the World Heritage Committee for the 2023-2027 term with a high number of votes. Hoi An and Da Lat officially joined UNESCO's Creative Cities Network.
Exhibition "Spring in Hanoi" at the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts. (Photo: Vietnam+)
- Minister, besides the achievements, what are the challenges that the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism encountered in the past year?
Minister Nguyen Van Hung: We admitted that the institutional, policy, and resource-related challenges that have not been fully addressed.
The cultural environment is still polluted by social vices, corruption, and negativity. Disparities in cultural values between regions and localities remain significant. Cultural life in ethnic minority areas, remote, border and island areas still faces many difficulties. The staffing of officials in the Culture, Sports, and Tourism sector is thin, with some areas lacking competent personnel in terms of expertise and management. The pool of intellectuals and leading experts is also insufficient.
- In 2024, as the entire Party, army, and people are accelerating to implement the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, could you outline the tasks and goals of the sector for this year?
Minister Nguyen Van Hung: The sector will continue to concretize the guidance of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in his letter to the entire Culture, Sports, and Tourism sector on the occasion of the 78th Anniversary of the Traditional Day.
The tasks for 2024 include accelerating Digital Transformation in management and heritage exploitation.
Firstly, the Ministry will focus on effectively implementing the Party's policies and state laws on culture, sports, and tourism. We will continue to implement Directive No. 05-CT/TW on "Studying and following ideology, morality, and style of late President Ho Chi Minh". We will also continue with the Plan to implement Conclusion No. 76-KL/TW dated June 4, 2020 of the Politburo on continuing to implement Resolution No. 33-NQ/TW of the 11th Central Committee. This covers the building and developing of Vietnamese culture and people to meet the requirements of sustainable national development, and the Conclusion of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the National Culture Conference in 2021. We will actively organize commemorative activities for major holidays in 2024.
Secondly, we are determined to make breakthroughs in building and improving the institutional framework in the fields of culture, sports, and tourism. This includes drafting a Cultural Heritage Law (amended); amending and supplementing certain provisions of the Advertising Law; and preparing Government proposals to issue five Decrees and issue 30 Circulars to adjust specialized areas.
Thirdly, we will focus on strengthening state management, tightening discipline, administrative discipline, and public duties. There is an increased attention to developing a team of officials and civil servants to meet the requirements of Resolution No. 09-NQ/BCSĐ dated June 21, 2021 of the Party Committee's Standing Committee on "Continuing to build a team of officials and civil servants of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism with sufficient qualities, capabilities, and prestige, commensurate with the new situation." Attention will be given to improving living standards, boosting morale, and providing support for human resource development.
The scene in the traditional opera "Xuan Huong, the Female Poet" performed by the Hai Phong Cheo (traditional opera) troupe. (Photo: Vietnam+)
Fourthly, we will enhance the management, protection, and promotion of cultural heritage values for sustainable development, closely linked with economic and tourism development. We will accelerate Digital Transformation in heritage management and exploitation to gradually reconcile the harmonious relationship between conservation, development, diversification, and forms of communication, and education about heritage. It is important to complete the dossiers for UNESCO inscription for two intangible cultural heritages: Mo Muong and Cheo singing. Effectively implementing National Target Programs and projects "Conservation and promotion of the beautiful traditional cultural values of ethnic minorities linked to tourism development."
Fifthly, it is important to direct cultural centers, grassroots cultural institutions, and cultural workers to operate efficiently, in line with the Party's and State's policy on renovating the self-reliant mechanism. We will also build models for preserving the traditional cultural values of some ethnic minority communities to create cultural, sports, and tourism equality for remote, rural, border, and island areas, and especially for vulnerable groups.
Sixthly, implementing the Project for Developing a Reading Culture in Communities by 2020 with a vision to 2030 is an important task. The focus is on the Program "Digital Transformation of the Library Sector by 2025, with a vision towards 2030", and the Program "Enhancing Lifelong Learning Activities in Libraries, Museums, and Cultural Centers by 2030". We plan to focus on the Project "Building Ethical Culture in Schools for the Period 2018-2025" by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The ministry will also boost information dissemination and education on ethics, lifestyles within families, gender equality, nurturing and educating children, respecting and promoting the role of the elderly in families, preventing and combating domestic violence, and fostering behavioral criteria within families to achieve the goal of building warm, progressive, and happy families.
Seventhly, we need to enhance state management over artistic performance activities, photography, copyright, related rights, and cultural industries. We will focus on building and developing high-level art, striving for more creative talents in various cultural and artistic forms, and producing significant works that deeply reflect the country's achievements and prominent marks during the renovation period.
Eighthly, we will work to enhance the effectiveness and innovation of state agencies in physical education, sports, and comprehensive and sustainable development of professional sports. Besides are continuing to promote the "Whole People Exercise for Health Following the Example of Great President Ho Chi Minh" movement; the Safe Swimming program for preventing children's drowning accidents and the Comprehensive Physical Development Project for Vietnamese people for the period 2011-2030, ad preparing forces to participate in regional and global sports tournaments.
Ninthly, it will be organizing evaluations of the implementation of the Tourism Law of 2017, reviewing the implementation of Resolution No. 08-NQ/TW dated January 16, 2017 of the Politburo on developing tourism into a spearhead economic sector. We will maintain the dissemination of the Party's policies, state laws on tourism development through mass media, and enhance internal regional connectivity, regional and national connectivity, and international linkage with the motto of a multi-destination single route.
Also, we are building a national heritage route, an international heritage route, and actively promoting and advertising Vietnamese tourism in Northeast Asia, ASEAN, and Western Europe markets. We are also striving to welcome 17 to 18 million international tourists in 2024, serving about 110 million domestic tourists and earning some 840 trillion VND (33.89 billion USD) from the sector this year.
- Thank you Minister./.
