The recommended budget of VND350 trillion for the program on promoting and developing culture and building Vietnamese people in the new development period has stirred up the public. It was also the major topic of discussion at the quarterly press conference on October 9.

According to Le Hong Phong, director of the MCST’s Planning Department, the national program on culture development built by his ministry will help solve urgent cultural problems in the new period. The program also aims at implementing Vietnam’s commitments on protecting and developing culture in a sustainable way.

In the document to MCST, MPI requested supplementary explanations and clarification of some points of the program.

MPI said MCST needs to check and list the tasks that need to be implemented in priority order; define the goals of the program to make sure that it comes in line with the current laws on public investment, and that the goals are feasible, suitable to the mobilizing resources to implement the program.

MPI requested to clarify the basis and the method of defining the total cost of VND350 trillion for program implementation and explain the allocation of budgets for different investment periods.

According to MPI, the report by MCST on examining the plan only says that the culture needs to be promoted and developed with suitable solutions, but did not specify the conformity of the solutions with the current conditions, the feasibility of the solutions and the responsibility MCST needs to take for program implementation.

MCST’s Deputy Minister Doan Van Viet said the ministry organized seminars and meetings to consult with relevant ministries, branches, experts and culture researchers before completing the national plan on culture promotion and development.

The ministry reviewed the national culture development programs and the projects implemented in previous years to learn about experiences and draw up the new national program for 2025-2035.

The program comprises 10 component contents, with 51 tasks, 164 targets and 255 specific activities. The 10 component contents include 1/ developing Vietnamese culture and Vietnamese people; 2/ building a healthy and civilized cultural environment; 3 /developing a comprehensive and effective infrastructure system, landscapes, and cultural institutions; 4/ improving the effectiveness of propaganda and cultural education; 5/ preserving and promoting national cultural heritage values; 6/ promoting the development of literature and art; 7/ developing cultural industries; 8/ promote digital transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements in the field of culture; 9/ developing cultural human resources; and 10/ carrying out international integration, absorbing the quintessence of human culture and spreading Vietnamese cultural values to the world.

Tinh Le