Minister Nguyen Van Hung: Culture nurtures the soul and national identity, the aspiration to rise high

On August 23, at the Hanoi Opera House, the 80th anniversary of the cultural sector's tradition took place.

Delivering a commemorative speech, reviewing the heroic tradition, emphasizing the significance and aspirations of the entire sector in the new period, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung emphasized that since the Party's leadership, culture has been identified as an important front. The 1943 Outline of Vietnamese Culture - the Party's first manifesto on culture - identified three basic principles: "National - Scientific - Mass" in building and developing culture; Resolutions of Congresses, thematic Resolutions of the Central Executive Committee and the Politburo all affirmed that culture is the soul of the nation, the driving force of development, and the "soft power" of the nation.

General Secretary To Lam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and delegates visited the exhibition.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung spoke at the ceremony.

Thanks to that correct and creative path, the 80-year journey of the cultural sector has created an epic with many emotional levels: Culture has nurtured the soul and identity, from the heroic music of the resistance culture, to the confident dances of integrated sports with aspirations to reach high, with the footsteps of tourism bringing the country to the world and the press becoming the conduit of knowledge connecting the trust between the Party and the people.

According to Minister Nguyen Van Hung, looking at the overall achievements, it is not only a source of pride but also a solid spiritual foundation for building a Vietnamese culture rich in identity. Reflecting on the reality of recent years, the cultural sector has seen many positive changes.

Awareness of the position and role of culture in the country's sustainable development is increasingly comprehensive and profound; culture is present in most of the country's Resolutions, Strategies and Socio-economic Development Plans.

The work of building and perfecting cultural institutions has been focused on, the whole industry has strongly transformed the mindset from "doing culture" to "state management of culture", approaching the direction of cultural development management. A special highlight is that the National Assembly has approved the National Target Program on Cultural Development 2025 - 2035.

The work of building a cultural environment has been promoted, becoming a widespread and substantial movement, where people are both creators and beneficiaries. Many new models and good practices have emerged to preserve traditional culture, especially the culture of ethnic minorities; the material and spiritual life of the people has been improved, narrowing the gap in cultural enjoyment between regions. Heritage has been preserved, conserved and promoted as an important asset and resource of the country.

Delegates attended the 80th anniversary celebration of the cultural sector.

The cultural industry has shaped many creative directions, gradually professionalized, and increasingly contributed to economic growth. Cultural diplomacy has shifted from “exchange and meeting” to “substantive cooperation”, enhancing the country’s soft power in the international arena; mass sports have developed extensively, high-performance sports have affirmed their position, and made many important strides in regional and international arenas.

Tourism and press and media have become two doors connecting the country with the world. Tourism has continuously grown, becoming a bright spot in the socio-economic picture as stated by the Prime Minister. Vietnam tourism has been honored to be voted as the leading destination in the region and the world for 5 consecutive years. Press and publishing are becoming a conduit of knowledge, connecting trust, continuing to play the role of the voice of the Party, the State and the people's forum.

“In recognition of the great contributions of the cultural sector to the nation’s revolutionary cause, the Party and State have awarded the cultural sector many noble titles, such as the Gold Star Order and the Ho Chi Minh Order; hundreds of units and thousands of cultural sector officials have been awarded many other noble titles by the Party and State. In particular, at today’s solemn ceremony, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is honored to receive the First Class Labor Order - which is the evaluation and recognition of the Party, State and People for the sector in the past 5 years,” Minister Nguyen Van Hung shared.

“With the spirit of 'looking back to move further', the road ahead has many advantages but also many difficulties and challenges. Globalization and integration open up opportunities, but the risk of cultural identity fading is also very real. The application of technology and digital transformation in the cultural field is still slow, and the industry's high-quality human resources are still facing difficulties. More than ever, the entire industry must have solutions to overcome these "bottlenecks"; at the same time, it is necessary to "keep the rhythm" and create a "new rhythm": "Keeping the rhythm" means maintaining core values, keeping the flow of national culture from losing direction, maintaining stability in organization, belief, and morality. "Creating a new rhythm" means promoting courage, creating new momentum for development, creating a creative flow in leadership thinking, creating creative breakthroughs in the fields that the Ministry and the Industry are managing and administering", Minister Nguyen Van Hung emphasized.

Cultural program at the celebration.

In the coming time, Minister Nguyen Van Hung emphasized the need to focus on implementing a number of breakthrough tasks.

Firstly, we need to continue to thoroughly grasp and seriously implement the guiding viewpoints of the Central Committee, the Politburo, and the Secretariat on national development in the era of national development, with strategic breakthroughs from the "quartet" of resolutions 57, 58, 66, and 68 issued by the Politburo. In the immediate future, we need to focus our intelligence on building and completing the report dossier for the Government Party Committee to submit to the Politburo to issue the Resolution on "Revival and development of Vietnamese culture in the new era" in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Second is to synchronously and effectively carry out personnel work, closely following the Party's viewpoints and principles, building a team with sufficient qualities, capacity and prestige, equal to the task, meeting the development requirements of the fields of culture, information, sports and tourism. Building a team of cadres, first of all, leaders with strong political will, clear ethics, outstanding capacity; daring to think, daring to speak, daring to do, daring to take responsibility, daring to innovate, daring to face difficulties and challenges, daring to act for the common good; each cultural cadre must truly understand culture, practice and strive to become a "cultural ambassador", "information ambassador", "tourism ambassador", "sports ambassador".

Third, focus on building a healthy cultural environment, ensuring that all members of the community can develop their creative abilities; focus on prioritizing the building of culture in the political system, building culture in each village, hamlet, neighborhood, agency, unit, corporate culture and each family as a truly cultural unit. At the same time, continue to build the value system of Vietnamese people, when the ability to select the subtle, the good, self-positioning, values, national identity associated with the desire to integrate and contribute is promoted, it will become a soft shield to eliminate the offensive, uncultured like "fragrant flowers will overwhelm the weeds".

The entire cultural sector is determined to successfully carry out the tasks assigned by the Party, State and People.

Fourthly, mobilize, utilize and maximize the effectiveness of all development resources invested by the Party, State and society in the fields of culture, information, sports and tourism. Immediately deploy the National Target Program on Cultural Development for the period 2025 - 2035 after the Prime Minister approves the investment; Strategy for the development of cultural industries to 2030; Strategy for the development of physical education and sports to 2030. Invest in, construct and complete cultural works and institutions worthy of the Ho Chi Minh era. Manage, exploit and effectively use public assets for cultural, information and sports infrastructure assets.

“With the declaration of action: “Culture is the foundation - Information is the conduit - Sports is the strength - Tourism is the connecting bridge”, the whole industry is determined to successfully carry out the tasks entrusted by the Party, State and people, bringing the cause of cultural development into a new era with new achievements, new marks, contributing to building a rich, democratic, fair, civilized, prosperous and happy Vietnam”, Minister Nguyen Van Hung pledged.

Within the framework of the program to honor 80 typical advanced examples of the industry, these are "cultural ambassadors", regardless of their positions or fields, in the past time, they have promoted the glorious tradition of the industry, which is the spirit of initiative, creativity in thinking; flexibility, determination and effectiveness in action to work with the entire team of cultural workers to carry out the task of reviving and developing Vietnamese culture.

Over 80 years of construction and development, the Culture, Sports and Tourism sector has achieved many important achievements, making great contributions to the cause of building and defending the Fatherland. In recognition of these outstanding achievements, on August 22, 2025, the President signed a Decision to award the First Class Labor Medal to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

General Secretary To Lam pinned the First Class Labor Medal on the traditional flag.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung and Deputy Ministers of Culture, Sports and Tourism were honored to receive the First Class Labor Medal.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh pinned the First Class Labor Medal on the chest of Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung and presented a Certificate of Recognition.

General Secretary To Lam and Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung awarded certificates of merit to outstanding examples with many achievements in the cultural field.

 

Hong Phuong/News and People Newspaper

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/bo-truong-nguyen-van-hung-van-hoa-nuoi-duong-tam-hon-va-ban-sac-dan-toc-khat-vong-vuon-cao-20250823094333613.htm