SHARE THE BURDEN ON THE BURDEN
Many issues were raised at the Conference on implementing the strategy for developing Vietnam's physical education and sports until 2030, with a vision to 2045, in which the story of how to socialize sports and reduce the burden on the budget was of particular concern to leaders of central and local ministries and branches.
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According to the report of the Department of Sports and Physical Training, the actual budget expenditure for Vietnamese sports (including mass sports and high-performance sports) in the past 5 years was 893 billion VND (2020), 890 billion VND (2021), 1,242 billion VND (2022), 893 billion VND (2023) and 826.2 billion VND (2024), respectively. In particular, except for 2022, the budget expenditure exceeded 1,000 billion VND due to the addition of the cost of organizing the 31st SEA Games, in the remaining years, the figure was only around 800 - 900 billion VND. Limited budget sources and lack of focus investment have made it impossible for Vietnamese sports to have a key sport that gathers world-class athletes.
At the conference, Director of the Department of Sports and Physical Training Dang Ha Viet said that the current central budget for sports only ensures that athletes in all sports participate in about 170 tournaments each year to gain experience, achievements and accumulate points for tickets to the Olympics. There are sports where athletes are only given a budget to compete in 2-3 international tournaments a year, and if they want to compete in more, they have to... spend their own money or find sponsorship. In the coming years, the budget for Vietnamese sports will hardly increase dramatically. This requires sports federations and associations to participate more in the selection, training and development of athletes, to reduce dependence on the central government.
According to former Director of the Department of High Performance Sports of the Sports and Physical Training Committee (now the Department of Sports and Physical Training) Nguyen Hong Minh, the request to transfer and share some activities of the Department of Sports and Physical Training to federations and associations was mentioned 30 years ago. "This issue was mentioned 30 years ago, so if we say that it is only being implemented step by step now, I think it is unreasonable," Mr. Minh shared. The former Head of the Vietnamese Sports Delegation assessed: Sports that have the imprint of the federation often develop quickly and achieve good results such as football, shooting, and taekwondo. In addition to athlete management and strategic orientation, sports federations also play a role in seeking sponsorship and mobilizing socialized investment from businesses to develop sports, instead of relying on the budget.
Ms. Le Thi Hoang Yen, Deputy Director of the Department of Sports and Physical Training, affirmed: "Some domestic federations are doing a good job in socialization, thanks to gathering talented and visionary people, so they work systematically and effectively." However, this is only a small number. Vietnamese sports still depend on the budget, the role of federations in most sports is still unclear.
OLD PROBLEM, NEW ANSWER?
The issue of socializing sports has been raised for many years, but the shift towards businesses participating in investing in sports is still slow. According to Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Ho Chi Minh City Nguyen Nam Nhan, the mechanism and policies for investment in sports are not yet complete enough to attract social resources.
The leader of the Ho Chi Minh City sports sector also stated his opinion: The strategic project for developing Vietnam's physical education and sports until 2030, with a vision to 2045, needs to focus on mobilizing social resources, encouraging public-private partnerships, attracting private investment capital, and creating additional resources for sports development in the context of limited public budget.
According to Mr. Nguyen Nam Nhan, Vietnamese sports need to plan for some provinces and sectors (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Can Tho, Police, Army...) with strengths to form national-level training centers to share the training burden for the Central Committee; develop specific sports programs for people with disabilities, including improving facilities and designing appropriate activities, towards establishing a national Paralympic training center.
In addition, it is necessary to develop a long-term maintenance and investment strategy for key sports facilities and establish a public-private partnership mechanism to utilize social resources in building and maintaining sports infrastructure.
The Ho Chi Minh City sports industry aims to increase the socialization rate of sports from the current 20% to 50% by 2035. To do so, it is necessary to build mechanisms to encourage investment in the sports industry, reform sports land taxes, reduce taxes for businesses operating in the sports sector and encourage activities to promote sports products and services, linking sports tourism activities with sports events.
“Without appropriate policies and infrastructure for mutual benefit between businesses and the state, the private sector may not actively participate in sports,” Mr. Nhan affirmed.
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