General Secretary To Lam: Culture must light the way and form national soft capacity

General Secretary To Lam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and artists. (Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA)

On the morning of August 23, in Hanoi, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism solemnly held the Ceremony to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Cultural Sector's Traditional Day (August 28, 1945 - August 28, 2025) and received the First Class Labor Medal.

General Secretary To Lam; Politburo member, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the ceremony. Also attending the ceremony were Politburo members: Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Propaganda and Education Commission Nguyen Trong Nghia, Minister of National Defense General Phan Van Giang; comrades: Le Hoai Trung, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Chief of the Party Central Committee Office; Mai Van Chinh, Party Central Committee member, Deputy Prime Minister; comrades of the Party Central Committee, former members of the Party Central Committee, alternate members of the Party Central Committee, leaders, former leaders of the Party, State, Vietnam Fatherland Front, leaders of departments, ministries, branches, central agencies, Hanoi city, leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism through the periods, ambassadors representing a number of countries, a large number of officials working in culture, information, sports and tourism nationwide.

On this occasion, Politburo member, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man; Party Central Committee member, Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan sent congratulatory flower baskets .

General Secretary To Lam speaks. (Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA)

Shock force on the ideological and spiritual front

Speaking at the Commemoration Ceremony, on behalf of the Party and State leaders, General Secretary To Lam respectfully sent his deepest gratitude to generations of officials in the fields of Culture, Information, Sports, and Tourism; artists, journalists, teachers, researchers, grassroots cultural nuclei, propaganda teams, mobile information teams, art troupes, library, museum, and relic staff; tour guides, tourism entrepreneurs; coaches, athletes; and millions of people working in non-professional cultural work in villages, hamlets, and residential groups...

The General Secretary was moved to express that we will forever remember the first steps of cultural soldiers in the revolutionary movement, when every propaganda poster, every song, every newspaper page, every performance in the communal house yard or on the edge of the rice field turned into fire.

Many comrades have fallen, devoted their youth and talent, so that culture becomes a sharp weapon, so that faith can spread, so that indomitable will can be multiplied.

In peace, construction, development and innovation, Culture is still the vanguard force on the ideological and spiritual front. The movements of “All people unite to build a cultural life”, “Building new rural areas, civilized urban areas”, building cultural schools, agencies, enterprises… have contributed to changing the face of life. We bow before the souls of martyrs, wounded and sick soldiers of the industry; send our gratitude to the families and relatives of generations of cultural cadres.

Each contribution and sacrifice creates a common memory, a vivid relief of modern Vietnamese culture. Emphasizing a number of lessons learned from the revolutionary practice over the past century, the General Secretary pointed out that our country is entering a new stage of development with the goal of becoming a developed, high-income country with a socialist orientation, in a rapidly changing and complex world context.

In that context, Culture must go one step ahead, light the way, lead, foster courage, strengthen trust, and form national soft capacity. The General Secretary requested the entire sector to continue to thoroughly grasp and comprehensively implement the Party's guidelines and viewpoints on Culture; put Culture on par with economics, politics, and society; concretize it through strategies, plans, programs, and projects with focus and key points; ensure adequate resources, breakthrough mechanisms, clear decentralization and delegation of authority; and strengthen supervision, evaluation, and inspection.

The whole sector builds a healthy cultural environment from family, school, and society; promotes the exemplary role of cadres and party members; promotes education on ethics, lifestyle, digital skills, and behavioral culture; prevents and combats domestic violence and school violence; develops a civilized and safe digital culture; builds a grassroots cultural community rich in identity, bright, green, clean, and beautiful.

Bringing Vietnamese Culture to its full potential

The General Secretary emphasized the need to nurture, promote and honor intellectuals, artists, coaches, athletes, tourism entrepreneurs and cultural workers at all levels, especially at the grassroots level; develop mechanisms for ordering, awarding prizes, supporting creativity, protecting copyrights and related rights; improve the material and spiritual life of the cultural workforce; encourage young talents; discover and nurture seeds of creativity from schools, clubs and grassroots cultural institutions.

Developing the cultural industry and creative economy to become a new pillar of growth; perfecting the cultural market institution, financial mechanism, tax, credit, land, investment and data policies; encouraging cultural enterprises and creative startups; developing digital infrastructure for production, distribution and consumption of cultural products; building clusters, creative industrial parks, "cultural valleys" associated with large cities and tourist centers.

The General Secretary requested to preserve, restore and promote heritage associated with community livelihoods and sustainable development, strongly apply digital technology and artificial intelligence in digitizing heritage, in exhibitions, performances and education; build "digital culture" institutions, "open museums", "mobile theaters", "digital libraries" friendly to all ages; develop responsible heritage tourism; nurture "living cultural assets" which are artisans and folk artists.

The General Secretary noted that creating breakthroughs for mass sports and high-performance sports; focusing on physical education in schools; developing a system of clubs and public sports spaces; improving sports science and medicine capacity; selecting and training young athletes according to modern standards; expanding international cooperation; setting sustainable and humane goals.

Restructuring, improving the quality and competitiveness of Vietnamese tourism; developing products with cultural identity and rich experiences; promoting smart, green, clean tourism, reducing emissions; connecting inter-regions and inter-sectoral sectors; improving the quality of human resources; tightening discipline, standardizing services; building the destination brand "Vietnam - endless beauty, fragrant culture."

The General Secretary pointed out that it is necessary to strengthen cultural diplomacy, promote the national image; proactively participate in international creative networks; organize regional and world-scale events, festivals, cultural weeks; bring the quintessence of Vietnam to the world and bring the world's quintessence to Vietnam in the spirit of peace, friendship, respect for differences, mutual learning, integration, not dissolution.

The whole industry promotes comprehensive digital transformation; builds a large database on heritage, art, sports, tourism, and digital cultural maps; develops a digital content distribution platform and copyright protection tools; applies data analysis and augmented reality technology in museums, performances, and education; strengthens information security and safety, and fights against harmful and distorted content; continues to fight against the plot of "peaceful evolution" in the fields of ideology and culture; resolutely protects the Party's ideological foundation; builds a "soft shield" of values, beliefs, and social norms; improves policy communication capacity; proactively inspires good things and spreads good examples of good people and good deeds.

The General Secretary advised that the 80-year tradition is a spiritual treasure, but the tradition will only truly shine when we continue to write new pages of history. In every position, every person working in culture should carry in their hearts the flame of patriotism, professional pride, a sense of discipline and tireless creativity.

Let every literary and artistic work, every tournament, every tourism product, every cultural space be an “ambassador” of truth, goodness, and beauty in Vietnam. Let every management regime be a commitment to the public, to the flow of heritage, to the future of the Vietnamese people.

The General Secretary requested Party committees, authorities, the Fatherland Front and political and social organizations to continue to pay attention to leadership, direction, creating favorable conditions, and mobilizing social resources for cultural development; attach importance to culture in urban and rural planning; build synchronous and effective grassroots cultural institutions; and encourage businesses and communities to participate.

Culture cannot stand on the sidelines of development policy; culture must permeate all planning, projects, and programs with long-term vision and high standards.

The General Secretary hopes that the intellectuals, artists, and "soul engineers" of the people will continue to be persistent, courageous, and passionate in their creativity; take life as the source, the people as the support, and truth, beauty, and reason as the guiding principle; resolutely say no to trivial, false, hybrid, and extreme commercialization; pave the way for new experiences, and receive the quintessence of human culture to enrich the national cultural treasure.

The sports industry continues to cultivate will, discipline, and the desire to win; consider ethical standards as the foundation, science and technology as strength; respect the rules of the game; and nurture talent from schools, families, and communities.

Generations of grassroots cadres, those who “sow cultural seeds” every day, continue to be dedicated, innovate methods, and connect with the community; so that every cultural house, library, playground, and public space is truly crowded and useful; so that good values are cultivated from small things.

The General Secretary believes that under the leadership of the Party, the management of the State, the participation of the entire political system, the consensus and support of the people; with the mettle, talent and love for the profession of the team of people working in culture, information, sports and tourism; we will bring Vietnamese culture to a worthy development, so that our country will be strong and rich, so that our nation will last forever, so that every Vietnamese person will be happy, confident to integrate and shine.

At the Ceremony, on behalf of the Party and State leaders, General Secretary To Lam presented the First Class Labor Medal to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh presented the First Class Labor Medal to the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung.

General Secretary To Lam presents the First Class Labor Medal to the Culture, Sports and Tourism sector. (Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA)

Within the framework of the Celebration Program, 80 typical advanced examples of the Industry were honored. These are truly "Cultural Ambassadors", regardless of their position or field, in the past time, they have promoted the glorious tradition of the Industry, which is the spirit of initiative and 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./.

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/tong-bi-thu-to-lam-van-hoa-phai-soi-duong-hinh-thanh-nang-luc-mem-quoc-gia-post1057428.vnp