Unleash the creativity and talent of writers in building and developing Vietnamese culture and people.

Attending the meeting were Mr. Nguyen Quang Thieu, Chairman of the Vietnam Writers Association; Ms. Ngo Phuong Lan, Vice Chairman of the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Arts; leaders of the Department of Performing Arts, representatives of the Department of Legislation (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism).

According to the report of the Department of Performing Arts at the working session, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is drafting a Submission on revising and completing the draft proposal to develop a Decree regulating and encouraging the development of literature according to the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha in Notice No. 176/TB-VPCP dated April 23, 2024 of the Government Office.

Deputy Minister Ta Quang Dong chaired the meeting.

Accordingly, implementing the provisions of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents, on January 22, 2024, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued Document No. 16/TTr-BVHTTDL to submit to the Government a draft proposal to develop a Decree on literary activities. In the Document, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism submitted to the Government to develop a Decree on literary activities according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 19 of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents and draft policy content to develop a Decree on literary activities: (1) State mechanism to assign tasks to encourage literary creation, literary theory and criticism using state budget funds to carry out political tasks. (2) Promote the role and improve the effectiveness of the Literary Creation Camp, Literary Theory and Criticism. (3) Improve the quality of the Literary Creation Contest, Literary Theory and Criticism. (4) Regarding the National Literary Award. (5) Promote the introduction, promotion, development of literature and promote the value of Vietnamese literary works.

On April 11, 2024, at the Government Office, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha chaired a meeting on the draft Proposal to develop a Decree on literary activities. Attending the meeting were leaders of the Ministries and agencies: Culture, Sports and Tourism, Information and Communications, Education and Training, the Government Office, the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and Standing Member of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education, Chairman of the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Arts; representatives of the Ministries and agencies: Justice, Finance, Public Security, National Defense and the Central Propaganda Department.

On April 23, 2024, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism received Notice No. 176/TB-VPCP of the Government Office on the Conclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha at the meeting on the draft proposal to develop a Decree on literary activities, which requires focusing on completing the following contents: (a) Reviewing the policies of the Decree to ensure full and comprehensive institutionalization of the Party's viewpoints, policies and major orientations on literature and art; solving practical issues identified through the process of summarizing 15 years of implementing Resolution No. 23-NQ/TW of the Politburo on "Continuing to build and develop literature and art in the new period", the National Scientific Conference "80 years of Vietnamese Cultural Outline" and the National Cultural Conference... When promulgated, the Decree must create space and promote creativity in literary composition, theory and criticism; Building a national, scientific, and popular Vietnamese literature, promoting the nation's fine cultural values, protecting the Party's ideological and theoretical foundation, reflecting the vivid reality of the country's innovation and development and integrating into world trends.

(b) The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall preside over and coordinate with specialized agencies such as the Vietnam Writers Association and the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Arts to determine the scope of the Decree; review the content of each policy to ensure coverage, comprehensiveness and completeness in order to promote creative activities (ordering works, organizing creative camps, launching competitions, organizing literary awards, other support activities, etc.), protect copyright, criticism, literary theory, digital transformation in the field of literature and promote literature on cyberspace, promote reading culture; unify concepts and terminology. Based on the scope of regulation and policy content, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall propose appropriate names; at the same time, clarify the political basis, practical basis, and the necessity of having separate regulations regulating the field of literature in the Draft Proposal.

(c) Regarding some specific policy contents that need to be reviewed, supplemented and completed: (i) Clearly define the responsibility for state management at the central and local levels, including the orientation on organizing the management apparatus in accordance with practical requirements and policies and related legal regulations; (ii) Maximize the role of the Vietnam Writers Association and related professional organizations, directly participating in organizing literary competitions and awards, regulations on developing criteria and rules that closely follow international trends, training activities, disseminating knowledge and skills, strengthening copyright protection, introducing, promoting and popularizing literature on cyberspace, developing reading culture; at the same time, focus on diversifying forms of honoring and promoting literary works; (iii) Diversify forms of organizing creative spaces to encourage all subjects to participate in creative activities in accordance with specific circumstances and conditions; Strengthen the role of the State through training, coaching, information provision, exchange organization and other support activities.

Working scene

After researching and consulting with the Vietnam Writers Association, the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Arts and a number of relevant agencies, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism continues to revise and complete the draft Decree at the request of the Government Office, specifically as follows:

(1) Regarding the dossier components, order and procedures for development Implementing the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha on assigning the Ministry of Justice to issue a document clearly affirming the authority, order and procedures for developing, completing and approving the proposal to develop a Decree regulating and encouraging the development of literature (Section 3 of Notice No. 176/TB-VPCP dated April 23, 2024 of the Government Office), within the scope of its functions and tasks, through studying documents, the Ministry of Justice has the following opinions: On December 8, 2023, the Ministry of Justice issued Official Dispatch No. 6087/BTP-PLHSHC to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for comments on the dossier proposing to develop a Decree regulating and encouraging the development of literature. On May 13, 2024, the Ministry of Justice issued Official Dispatch No. 2378/BTP-PLHSHC to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the process of preparing a dossier to propose the development of a Decree regulating and encouraging the development of literature, in which the drafting agency is requested to revise the content, synthesize comments from relevant agencies, organizations and individuals during the process of preparing the dossier to propose the development of this Decree and complete the dossier according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 87 of this Law to report to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision. Thus, for the dossier to propose the development of a Decree regulating and encouraging the development of literature, there are dossier components, order and procedures for preparation according to Clause 2, Article 19 of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents.

(2) Regarding the content of the reception: Based on the political, practical and draft policies of the Decree, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism receives and adjusts the name of the Decree according to Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP dated January 8, 2022 of the Government on the main tasks and solutions to implement the socio-economic development plan and the state budget estimate for 2022. The Government assigns the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to develop a Decree on literary activities to receive and adjust it into a Decree regulating and encouraging literary development to suit the reality and draft policies to encourage literary development in the current period.

Reviewing the policies of the Decree to ensure full and comprehensive institutionalization of the Party's viewpoints, policies and major orientations on literature and art; resolving issues arising from practice that have been identified through the process of summarizing 15 years of implementing Resolution No. 23-NQ/TW of the Politburo on "Continuing to build and develop literature and art in the new period", the National Scientific Conference "80 years of Vietnamese Cultural Outline" and the National Cultural Conference... This issue has been absorbed and adjusted in the political basis section and specifically in the draft policies of the Decree.

Maximize the role of the Vietnam Writers Association, the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Arts, and related professional organizations, directly participating in organizing literary competitions and awards, literary writing camps according to topics, themes, and political tasks; national, international, and regional literary writing competitions; develop projects and regulations for national literary awards according to specific stages, including regulations on the order and procedures for applications for literary awards; translate and introduce and promote Vietnamese literature abroad...

The report also clearly stated some explanatory contents such as: Introducing, promoting and popularizing literature on cyberspace; Activities, training and coaching for writers and authors...

Literary activists are very interested and waiting for the birth of legal documents suitable to the current literary practice situation.

At the meeting, representatives of the Vietnam Writers Association and the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Arts agreed with the view that it is necessary to develop a Decree regulating and encouraging the development of literature. According to Mr. Nguyen Quang Thieu, the Decree aims to encourage the development of literature, encourage investment in literary creation, regulate national literary awards and the effectiveness of writing camps... these are necessary and beneficial for writers. When the Decree is in place, writers will know their rights and responsibilities more clearly.

Ms. Ngo Phuong Lan said that literature is the original art of many other art forms, but the problem is that there is no separate legal document to regulate and manage it. The development of the Decree needs to refer to the regulations on literature management in some countries with similar conditions to Vietnam, so that the management of literature is effective and literature development is encouraged.

Concluding the working session, Deputy Minister Ta Quang Dong affirmed that literary activists are very interested in and waiting for the birth of legal documents that are suitable for the current literary situation, ensuring creative freedom, helping writers unleash their creativity, wholeheartedly contributing their talents and efforts to the cause of building and developing Vietnamese culture and people, meeting the requirements of sustainable development of the country. To do that, the drafting of the Decree has been carried out by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism carefully and scientifically, consulting widely with relevant ministries and branches, and the main subjects of the Decree are writers and beneficiaries of literary works. To complete the Draft Report this time, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism continues to seek opinions from the Vietnam Writers' Association and the Central Council for Theory and Criticism of Literature and Arts. The comments will be compiled, revised, completed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and submitted to the Government in the coming time./.

Source: https://toquoc.vn/xay-dung-nghi-dinh-ve-hoat-dong-van-hoc-khoi-thong-suc-sang-tao-tai-nang-cua-nha-van-vao-xay-dung-va-phat-trien-nen-van-hoa-con-nguoi-viet-nam-20240614210917274.htm