Culture, sports, and tourism sector works hards for goals in 2022 hinh anh 1

Minister Hung meets members of the national men's football team before they leave for the 2022 World Cup qualifying round in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Photo: The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism)

Hanoi (VNA) – Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung has revealed his ministry's targets, tasks and goals for 2022 in an interview with Vietnam News Agency.

During the interview, he also reviewed activities of the culture, sports and tourism sector in 2021.

Hung said the ministry has focused on institutionalising the Party's guidelines and policies. He also proposed the Party, State, National Assembly (NA) and Government issue guidelines and legal documents to better perform State management tasks.

The ministry has recommended the Government submit a draft Law on Cinematography (amended), and Law on Intellectual Property (copyright and related rights) to the NA.

The ministry has actively coordinated with several ministries and sectors to sign programmes in the next five years, including an action coordination programme with the Commission for Information and Education of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, the Government's Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, and the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL).

The sector has made great efforts to overcome difficulties and change operation forms, to ensure both effective COVID-19 prevention and the safe and flexible adaptation to the new situation.

The ministry has directed art units to well implement new and unprecedented content, including online and television theatres, and livestreaming of art programmes, which are expected to create a "spiritual vaccine" to encourage people to overcome difficulties caused by the pandemic, contributing to strongly promoting the country’s traditional cultural values, Hung said.

Regarding tourism, the ministry has proposed a pilot plan on welcoming international tourists in Phu Quoc (Kien Giang), Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam, and Quang Ninh.

Vietnam has welcomed 3,500 international arrivals in just over a month since the pilot began, he noted, stressing that this is good news that sends the message that Vietnam is a safe and hospitable destination for visitors.

In regards to sports, Vietnam fully participated in international and regional sporting events, including the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and AFF Suzuki Cup, and achieved remarkable results across the board.

Overall, from building mechanisms and policies to implementing tasks, the sector has had great success, demonstrating its hard work and determination to overcome difficulties in 2021.

Minister Hung also pointed out the difficulties and challenges facing the culture, sports and tourism sector, saying that more effort must be made to remove bottlenecks.

Culture is one of the three pillars for national construction and development, along with economy and politics, but the importance of culture is not fully realised, Hung said.

In addition, the culture sector is facing difficulties in implementing digital transformation, he added.

He underlined the need to continue efforts and determination while also creating synergy in addressing difficulties, further promoting the sector’s development.

In 2022, the sector will continue to propose that the NA consider amendments and supplements to several laws, including the Law on Cultural Heritage. He added that management in this field must be approached from the perspective of protecting and promoting the values of culture and heritage.

Attention will be also paid to taking measures to develop tourism, identifying domestic tourism as the basic direction to create safe tourist destinations. This will create opportunities to turn the tourism industry into a spearhead economic sector, making positive contributions to the State budget.

The most important thing that must be done in this process is to diversify products to attract more visitors to the country, he said.

Minister Hung also emphasised the importance of effectively organising sports activities, especially the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), which will feature 40 sports across 12 northern localities.

The SEA Games will be a good opportunity for Vietnam to promote its image to international friends, Hung said, adding that it will be chance for Vietnamese athletes to perform and gain experience./.

VNA