Also attending the meeting were representatives of the Department of Cultural Heritage, the Department of Financial Planning, the Department of Personnel Organization, museums under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Ho Chi Minh Relic Site at the Presidential Palace.

Speaking at the opening of the working session, Deputy Minister Hoang Dao Cuong said that, implementing the direction of Minister Nguyen Van Hung at the meeting of the State management agencies on October 18 on directing the summary of the first 9 months of the year of the agencies under the Ministry, each block deployed tasks and work in each specific field, from which there were reports on the implementation results, problems that needed recommendations and proposals for the Ministry's leaders to resolve and remove in order to work with the entire culture, sports and tourism sector to successfully complete the tasks in 2024.

The Deputy Minister assessed that, according to initial records, the museum sector has achieved encouraging results, the number of visitors to museums and relic sites has been equivalent to the 2019 period. However, the working session created an opportunity for museums and relic sites to have exchanges to better perform political tasks as well as professional tasks in the coming time.

Reporting at the meeting, Ms. Le Thi Phuong, Director of the President Ho Chi Minh Relic Site at the Presidential Palace, said that as of October 14, 2024, the Relic Site has basically completed 90% of the 2024 work plan. The Relic Site has organized a series of activities to celebrate the 55th anniversary of Uncle Ho's passing, 55 years of implementing his Testament, 55 years of preserving and promoting the value of the President Ho Chi Minh Relic Site at the Presidential Palace (1969-2024); 15 years of being recognized as a Special National Relic (2009-2024); 70 years of Uncle Ho living and working at the Presidential Palace (1954-2024), attracting the attention of scientists, media agencies and units, spreading the position of the first relic site about President Ho Chi Minh domestically and internationally.

In 2024, the Relic Site signed a cooperation agreement to organize a series of political activities with a number of central agencies, continuing to affirm its position as a "red address" converging and spreading the values ​​of Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style. In the first 9 months of 2024, the number of political activity groups at the Relic Site increased 3 times, the number of political activity visitors increased 2 times. The total number of visitors from November 20, 2023 to September 20, 2024 reached 2,286,820 (Vietnam: 1,770,168 visitors; international: 516,652 visitors).

According to Ms. Le Thi Phuong, some of the specific difficulties of the Relic Site are the impact of the natural environment on the preservation of documents, artifacts, and relics. In the environmental space with gardens, lawns, and fish ponds, there is always a risk of the emergence and development of insects, mold, and termites. This is a low-lying area in the relic complex, so when it rains, it floods, and maintaining the fish pond to grow and develop is also a challenge. Especially the whitewashing and painting of fences, when it rains, toxic substances flow into the fish pond environment, affecting the safety of fish growth...

The report of the Director of the National Museum of History (NSMH) Nguyen Van Doan said: In 2024, the NSMH flexibly applied technology in professional activities, developed more online activities, and simultaneously organized exhibition activities, educational programs, and discovery experiences at the museum. The NSMH also made efforts in the spirit of autonomy, thrift, and flexibility to complete assigned tasks with the highest efficiency.

The National Museum of Vietnamese History has organized 6 exhibitions, 236 History Classes; carried out well scientific research, surveys, archaeological excavations, editing, scientific documentation, and preservation of artifacts... The total number of visitors to the Museum in the first 9 months of 2024 was 156,971 people.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Minh, Director of the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, said that in 9 months, the Museum welcomed 82,484 visitors and about 70,000 visitors to specialized exhibitions and traveling exhibitions.

Notably, the Museum received the award for Outstanding Digital Transformation State Agency in 2024 with the digital technology application product Online Fine Arts Exhibition Space - VAES and a business trip to France to receive and connect to successfully transport back to the country the artwork donated by King Ham Nghi's family.

The museum has organized 5 thematic exhibitions, coordinated with individuals and organizations to carry out 27 exhibitions with domestic artists and international organizations... Received hundreds of artifacts and completed the preservation and restoration of 86 artifacts and works...

Ms. To Thi Thu Trang, Director of the Museum of Cultures of Vietnam's Ethnic Groups, said that in the first 9 months of the year, it served 58,394 visitors; including 449 international visitors, and free admission for about 30,000 visitors according to regulations.

The museum organizes 6 thematic exhibitions, develops educational programs, experiences, and tours of 6 outdoor cultural areas; organizes folk art performances, reenacts typical rituals of ethnic minorities, and builds folk game complexes in the outdoor cultural exhibition space to create more playgrounds for the public, especially students. In addition, the museum also uses an automatic commentary system to serve the public, the display system is always adjusted and repaired regularly to ensure it is open to serve visitors 6 days a week, meeting the cultural enjoyment needs of the public visiting independently, in groups and on travel tours. Although the ticket price is low, due to the difficult economic life of ethnic people in the Northern mountainous region, the number of visitors buying tickets is still very small.

Director of Ho Chi Minh Museum Vu Manh Ha said that in the first 9 months of the year, the Museum welcomed and served 700,933 visitors, including 58,496 foreign visitors. The museum served 2,877 domestic and foreign delegations with 3,263 guides, with a total of 40,667 people.

Ho Chi Minh Museum has also successfully organized 4 exhibitions and thematic displays at the Museum and localities, while promoting the collection, inventory and preservation of documents and artifacts.

At the meeting, some museums recommended that the Ministry's leaders pay attention to not streamlining the annual payroll, and allocate funds to invest in upgrading equipment for lighting systems, fire prevention and fighting, and infrastructure repairs, etc.

Also at the meeting, representatives of State management agencies answered questions raised by museum leaders. Mr. Pham Dinh Phong, Deputy Director of the Department of Heritage, agreed with the content of the reports of the units and highly appreciated the efforts of the museums and relic sites despite the extremely difficult conditions in terms of facilities but still achieved many encouraging results.

According to Mr. Pham Dinh Phong, closely following the Ministry's project on innovation to improve the efficiency and quality of museum services, recently, museums have promoted activities and increased tourist attraction. In addition, in the absence of investment, museums and relic sites have proactively applied technology in professional activities, while strengthening communication and promotion. Despite financial difficulties, museums always focus on doing a good job of collecting and supplementing artifacts.

Concluding the meeting, Deputy Minister Hoang Dao Cuong affirmed that, in the recent past, there have been many difficulties but the museums and relic sites have made efforts to overcome them and achieved many positive results. The numbers of welcoming visitors, exhibitions, inventories, collections, professional activities and other related tasks have all fulfilled their assigned tasks.

According to the Deputy Minister, the Ministry's leaders pay great attention to the Museum and Monuments sector, which is an important part of the Ministry in carrying out domestic and foreign affairs tasks. The sector is always included in the strategic plans and target programs of the Ministry.

According to the Deputy Minister, the museums under the Ministry all have their own characteristics and advantages such as beautiful locations and great specialization, so the museums need to try to be more creative to have impressive exhibitions, attracting more visitors. That is also the result of promoting the value of the cultural heritage that we are holding.

The Deputy Minister requested museums and relic sites to conduct a general inventory of museum artifacts and consolidate the relic site records. The Deputy Minister assigned the Department of Cultural Heritage to supervise this task in the coming time.

"In parallel with the general inventory, museums and relic sites need to have activities to attract tourists through exhibitions and thematic displays. Museums and relic sites need to be proactive, communicate, and connect with local departments, branches, and schools to attract tourists. There must be proposals beyond the scope to be more effective, to spread the heritage values ​​that we are preserving, conserving, and promoting the values" - the Deputy Minister requested.