National Assembly Delegate: National strength lies first and foremost in the Vietnamese people and cultural identity.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Suu emphasized: "The strength of the Vietnamese nation lies not only in natural resources or technology, but first and foremost in the Vietnamese people and cultural identity."

Continuing the program of the 10th session of the 15th National Assembly, the National Assembly discussed in the Hall the assessment of the results of the implementation of the 2025 socio- economic development plan; the expected socio-economic development plan for 2026.

Giving her opinion on the discussion, delegate Nguyen Thi Suu - National Assembly Delegation of Hue City assessed the Report on the results of implementing the Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2025 and the 5-year period 2021 - 2025; the Government's Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2026 showed great efforts in implementing the 5-year Socio-Economic Development Plan, especially in the fields of culture - society and human development.

According to delegates, many targets were achieved and exceeded: average life expectancy reached 74.8 years; health insurance coverage rate reached 95.15%; multidimensional poverty rate decreased to about 1%; trained labor rate reached 70%. These figures reflect the great efforts of the entire political system and the people.

However, from the perspective of sustainable development and national competitiveness in the digital age, delegates said that there are still structural limitations that need to be considered, supplemented and improved by the National Assembly, the Government and ministries and branches in the coming period.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Suu - National Assembly Delegation of Hue City spoke

The delegate pointed out that the Government's Report frankly stated that culture is not really the spiritual foundation of society, the endogenous strength and the driving force for national development. This is a very important assessment, showing that culture is still lagging behind the economy, while the world has entered the stage of "culturalizing the economy", where creative products, heritage identity and the entertainment industry become new sources of growth.

• 

  Minister Nguyen Van Hung: Culture has a huge impact and is always closely linked to tourism development.

Delegates proposed adding a cultural GDP target and a creative industry contribution index to GDP, while also stipulating a minimum budget investment level for culture of no less than 2% of total state budget expenditure, in order to institutionalize the viewpoint of placing culture on par with economics and politics in the spirit of Resolution 33 of the Central Committee.

Delegates said that the development of the cultural industry lacks a series of support policies and a separate legal framework. Vietnam's cultural industry currently contributes only about 3% of GDP, while mechanisms to support creativity, intellectual property, infrastructure investment and private sector attraction are still fragmented.

Delegates proposed drafting legal documents on cultural and creative industry development; regulations on cultural creation funds, tax incentives for creative enterprises; standardizing cultural institutions, digital copyrights and commercializing Vietnamese intellectual property and culture on digital platforms.

Delegates expressed their joy when, in the explanation and clarification of the opinions raised by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung, the Minister provided two important pieces of information on policies and mechanisms for cultural creation, and at the same time said that there will soon be a large-scale Resolution on the revival and development of Vietnamese culture in the new era.

"We really want that, because Hue city is developing on a cultural foundation, and in the next 5 years, Hue plans to build a green, smart, and unique urban area," the delegate emphasized.

View of the discussion session

According to delegate Nguyen Thi Suu, although the multidimensional poverty rate has decreased rapidly, the gap in social service access between regions, ethnic groups, and genders remains large. Child abuse, violence against children, and gender inequality in ethnic minority areas continue to be a cause for concern.

Delegates proposed adding social equity and cultural equity indexes by region, ethnicity, and gender to the national indicator system; including in the annual report the index of the proportion of women holding leadership positions at the provincial and communal levels. At the same time, it is necessary to link poverty reduction programs with green career transition and digital livelihoods, instead of short-term support models.

In addition, the Delegate said that social security policy needs to shift from guarantee to development. Currently, social security policy still relies heavily on administrative subsidies, lacks unified data and has not yet formed a flexible social security network.

Delegates recommended building a national data system on social security, connecting social insurance, health insurance, social assistance and poor household databases, applying unique identification codes; testing micro-community risk insurance in key disaster areas to reduce dependence on subsidies.

At the same time, it is proposed to issue a Decree on smart social protection, with a mechanism for data integration, rapid response, transparency and community supervision.

Delegates pointed out that education and healthcare in digital transformation, as well as labor market linkages, have not yet kept up with new requirements. Delegates proposed adding mandatory indicators on the proportion of schools with electronic learning management systems and related indicators.

"Vietnam's national strength lies not only in natural resources or technology, but first and foremost in the Vietnamese people and cultural identity," delegate Nguyen Thi Suu emphasized.

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/dai-bieu-quoc-hoi-suc-manh-dan-toc-truoc-het-nam-trong-con-nguoi-va-ban-sac-van-hoa-viet-nam-20251029214019762.htm