Cultural activities abroad are increasingly in-depth.

On the afternoon of December 20, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Minister Nguyen Van Hung chaired a meeting with heads of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad appointed in 2024.

Also attending were Deputy Minister Ho An Phong; representatives of the leaders of the Departments and Divisions under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. On the side of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there was Deputy Minister Pham Thanh Binh, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Vietnam to China, head of the delegation and ambassadors from countries in Asia and the Middle East.

6 bright spots in cultural diplomacy

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Minister Nguyen Van Hung recalled the important event on December 18, chaired by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the culture, sports and tourism sector nationwide held a conference to review 2024 and deploy tasks for 2025, in which the whole sector reviewed the results after 4 years of implementing Resolution 13 of the Party.

Bộ trưởng Nguyễn Văn Hùng: — Minister Nguyen Van Hung speaks at the meeting

At the conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh commended, acknowledged and highly appreciated the "bright spots" that the industry has achieved in the field of cultural cooperation, including: Fundamentally changing the mindset from "exchange and meeting" to "active cooperation"; Bringing cultural activities into the programs of high-level delegations and official visits of Party and State leaders; Maintaining annual cultural week and cultural day activities in key areas; Expanding cultural approaches; Building mechanisms and policies and Performing well the role in the international arena.

The Minister assessed that in 2024, the mindset change from "exchange and cooperation" to "active cooperation", the fields of cultural cooperation have gone deeper and more substantial, contributing to promoting strengths and affirming Vietnam's position in the international arena. Evidence of this is the 11 international cooperation documents signed in 2024.

In addition, 2024 also marks the first time the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism organizes a Vietnam Tourism - Cinema Promotion Program in the United States with the theme "Vietnam - New Destination of World Cinema". The event received high praise from the US and the world's elite filmmakers. After the conference, many cooperation agreements were signed and at least 5 international film crews will come to Vietnam.

A notable highlight mentioned by Minister Nguyen Van Hung in the meeting was the promotion of the development of cultural industries in the fields of performing arts, cinema, etc. Citing the example of Blackpink's concert in Vietnam in 2023, Minister Nguyen Van Hung said that in 2024, two concerts of "Anh trai say hi" and "Anh trai vu ngan cong gai" broke the record number created by the Korean band. This is a testament to the soft power of culture.

In the international arena, Vietnam has participated in international organizations, held many different important positions and has performed well its roles and responsibilities...

"The above success cannot be achieved without the coordination between the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, diplomatic missions abroad through embassies. The close coordination is also demonstrated through working trips, work programs, etc., bringing high efficiency" - Minister Nguyen Van Hung emphasized.

From the above successes, the Minister said that the Culture, Sports and Tourism sector will continue to focus on important key points. Among them, successfully organizing the 2025 World Expo (EXPO 2025) in Japan; Maintaining a focus on organizing a number of cultural days and cultural weeks in a number of countries according to the commemorative plan associated with culture, sports and tourism, achieving the dual goal of increasing the number of international tourists to Vietnam.

Also in 2025, the industry will focus all its forces to participate in the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand. The event is not only about expertise, but also demonstrates Vietnam's responsibility in the ASEAN community, in which each athlete must be a cultural ambassador.

The final task outlined by the Minister is to continue proposing and completing projects and preparing pre-feasibility reports to establish cultural centers abroad.

In addition, other regular tasks continue to be promoted, focusing on completing tasks, developing culture in the spirit of reaching the finish line in 2025, successfully completing the tasks set out in the Resolution of the 13th Party Congress; Continuing to advise and perfect policies at the 14th Congress, including cultural diplomacy.

Ready to cooperate and accompany with the highest goal

Listening to and accepting the opinions of Minister Nguyen Van Hung, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Thanh Binh, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Vietnam to China, head of the delegation affirmed that representative agencies are all responsible for implementing cultural diplomacy.

Deputy Minister Pham Thanh Binh emphasized that cultural diplomacy in recent times has had great achievements and created clear changes, especially in thinking and coordination of activities to implement events.

Reporting to Minister Nguyen Van Hung, Deputy Minister Pham Thanh Binh said that up to now, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have completed the construction of cooperation regulations.

"Cultural diplomacy is one of the four important elements in the diplomatic work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Obviously, coordination between the two ministries is extremely important. Cultural diplomacy will be one of the priority areas in the coming time" - Deputy Minister Pham Thanh Binh affirmed.

At the meeting, the ambassadors also contributed their opinions, pointing out the difficulties and advantages in developing cultural diplomacy in each country in charge; at the same time, they requested the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to continue supporting promotional products to create better conditions for cultural diplomacy.

After listening to the comments and concluding remarks at the meeting, Minister Nguyen Van Hung said that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism acknowledged the proposals from the ambassadors and assigned specialized units to implement them.

"After having a coordination charter, the two ministries will have conditions to coordinate more closely and systematically. Whatever is within our responsibility and authority, we are ready to coordinate and accompany with the highest goal of promoting the image of the country, the friendly, gentle, hospitable Vietnamese people, and the foreign policy of our Party and State to international friends. To have more soft power, more solidarity to build the country in the new era as called by General Secretary To Lam" - Minister Nguyen Van Hung emphasized.

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/bo-truong-nguyen-van-hung-hoat-dong-van-hoa-o-nuoc-ngoai-ngay-cang-co-chieu-sau-20241221065337593.htm