Continuing the 16th National Assembly’s first session in Hanoi on the morning of April 20, deputies reviewed a proposal and appraisal report concerning a draft Resolution on Vietnamese cultural development.
Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Lam Thi Phuong Thanh said the draft Resolution outlines 10 major policy groups. On funding, the State will ensure annual culture spending reaches at least 2 percent of total state budget expenditure while actively courting private resources for the sector.
To attract and unlock investment, proposed policies include easier land and premises access; tax, fee, and charge incentives for cultural and creative industry clusters; and empowering local communities to manage and operate certain grassroots cultural and sports facilities.
Investment incentives feature a 5 percent value-added tax rate for film production, distribution, and exhibition, as well as sports and performing arts activities. The draft also calls for full exemptions on import taxes and customs duties when bringing home high-value artworks, national treasures, and rare antiquities for non-profit exhibitions. Other measures include piloting a “heritage urban area” model, prioritizing land for cultural, sports, and recreational infrastructure, and converting unused public buildings into venues for culture and sports projects.
The resolution further targets preservation of ethnic minority heritage, folk and traditional arts, and national treasures, with stronger efforts to protect and elevate Vietnam’s cultural assets.
Additional policies focus on incentives and talent development for the workforce in culture and sports. The State would commission high-value cultural works, test output-based funding tied to clear criteria, and project Vietnam’s image globally through events such as Vietnam Culture Weeks abroad, expanded “Vietnamese residential areas," and exhibitions at major global museums.
According to the minister, digital transformation policies will give priority to a national cultural database, digital cultural infrastructure, and shared platforms; digitization of nationally recognized heritage sites; and new cultural innovation centers. The draft also designates November 24 each year as “Vietnam Culture Day," with employees entitled to a paid day off.
Presenting the appraisal report, Chairman of the NA Committee for Cultural and Social Affairs Nguyen Dac Vinh stressed the urgency of issuing the Resolution to promptly follow the Politburo’s Resolution 80-NQ/TW on cultural development, adding that the draft is consistent with the Constitution, the Party Central Committee’s guidelines, and international commitments while ensuring national defense-security, gender equality, and ethnic policies.
Mr. Vinh described the pilot of a culture and arts fund via public-private partnership or venture capital models as a new policy with a wide-ranging impact. It touches directly on state fund management and the mobilization of private capital, yet the current legal framework lacks detailed rules for such a model.
The committee recommends deeper analysis by the drafting agency on the fund’s organizational structure, governance, capital-raising methods, state-versus-private participation ratios, risk-sharing principles, and stakeholder responsibilities. Such insights would equip the Government to craft robust, feasible, and effective regulations, he added.
