Time to promote cultural industries to new heights Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Deputy Minister Ho An Phong said that the development of Vietnam's cultural industries (CNVH) has been mentioned in many Party documents. On September 8, 2016, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 1755/QD-TTg approving the "Strategy for the development of Vietnam's cultural industries to 2020, with a vision to 2030". The promulgation of this Strategy has created positive changes and innovations for the cultural industries.

According to Deputy Minister Ho An Phong, after 8 years of implementing the Strategy, the cultural industry has created positive changes, contributing more than 4% of GDP. However, in the new context, we must seize the opportunity for the country to enter the era of growth as directed by General Secretary To Lam, requiring Vietnamese cultural industries to reach a higher level, affirming the awareness and position of cultural industries and at the same time promoting cultural industries to new heights. "From that awareness, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has submitted to the Prime Minister Directive 30 on the development of Vietnam's cultural industries. At the same time, the Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to coordinate with relevant ministries and branches to submit to the Prime Minister for approval the Strategy for the development of Vietnam's cultural industries to 2030, with a vision to 2045, and to complete it this year. Although the time is urgent, the Strategy must create a change for the cultural industry, based on the development of awareness, meeting requirements at new heights, demonstrating efforts to reach into the new era" - Deputy Minister Ho An Phong stated. According to the Deputy Minister, the Draft Strategy includes 2 articles, 5 viewpoints, 7 general goals, 10 specific goals, 6 development orientations, 5 key cultural industries associated with development solutions, and implementation organization in each stage. The Deputy Minister asked the delegates to give their in-depth opinions so that when the Strategy is issued, it must raise social awareness, demonstrate a new vision of the cultural industry, and enhance the position of Vietnam's cultural industries in socio-economic life. In addition, it is necessary to create mechanisms and policies to mobilize maximum resources for the development of the cultural industry. We need guiding and constructive policies to create new motivations for social enterprises to do cultural industry. Mr. Tran Hoang, Director of the Copyright Office, said that the Strategy sets a target that by 2030, the cultural industries will contribute 7% of GDP; by 2045, Vietnam's cultural industries will strive to contribute 9% of GDP in revenue, attract 6 million workers, become a developed country in cultural industry in the Asian region, and affirm Vietnam's position on the world cultural industry map.

Vietnam's cultural industries develop in a number of directions: Professional, modern, applying science and technology, innovation and digital transformation; associated with international integration, maximizing the advantages of regions and areas. Contributing to enhancing national soft power, building and affirming brands for high-quality cultural industrial products and bearing Vietnamese cultural identity. Forming large enterprises, creating a highly specialized, professional, and synchronous ecosystem between creativity, production, business, promotion and consumption. Gradually building distribution centers for cultural industrial products in the domestic market and promoting participation in the international market. According to current key economic regions, select a number of provinces and cities with the most favorable conditions to play the role of connecting centers. Need for synchronous coordination in implementing cultural industry Speaking at the workshop, Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan, President of the Vietnam Association for Promotion and Development of Cinema, said that cultural industry in Vietnam still lacks symbolism, concentration and mechanism.

According to Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan, when talking about cultural industry in Korea, people only use one word Hallyu (Korean wave also known as Korean stream). As for Japan, anime is animated films, manga is comics, with American cinema it is Hollywood, American theater is Broadway. To achieve this symbol, countries have had decades to form and build, and we also need to find a symbol for cultural industry. Regarding the focus factor, according to Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan, we have not chosen the key point to implement. For example, human resources, if investing in human resources, it must be top-notch human resources, not widespread investment. "In Korea, people have star technology, at that time people invest in learning from a young age. Building idols is based on cultural identity and cultural qualities" - Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan shared. The third factor is the mechanism. According to Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan, it is necessary to clearly build a public-private partnership mechanism. Dr. Ngo Phuong Lan believes that without public-private cooperation, it is impossible to develop the cultural industry.

Commenting at the Workshop, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong, Director of the Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts, said that the Draft Strategy needs to select areas for developing cultural industries that are close to the practical implementation in localities. At the same time, it is necessary to shape a data center for developing cultural industries to have a more stable step. With the capital Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as the locomotives for implementing cultural industries, the two cities are the driving force for localities across the country to find a development model. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong said that Hanoi needs to have a report on the contribution of the capital's cultural industries to the percentage of GDP, to promote the figure of the whole country. In addition, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Phuong affirmed that the fundamental key step in building the Strategy is to have the coordination of relevant ministries and branches... Sharing the same view on the coordination between ministries and branches in implementing the Strategy, Dr. Tom Flemming - British Council said that now is the time for Vietnam to grasp to have a change in developing cultural industries.

According to Dr. Tom Flemming, the coordination mechanism between departments, branches, sectors, and organizations at all levels, between the public and private sectors, is not really synchronous. The participation of grassroots organizations, especially those affected by the policy system, is still formal. "Legal regulations related to resource mobilization show that culture is not completely a priority area when cultural development still faces significant barriers and bottlenecks from both social awareness and legal regulations that do not keep up with changing circumstances" - Dr. Tom Flemming commented. Dr. Tom Flemming also affirmed the importance of data and based on the collected data, it will help assess the development of cultural industries over time and help build and assess the quality of development of these industries. In addition, it is necessary to position and promote Vietnam and Vietnamese cultural industries in the world market more strongly. Create a legal framework and mechanism to encourage and attract more private investment as well as ensure the participation of the financial sector. This can be done through investment funds. In addition, according to Dr. Tom Flemming, it is necessary to promote FDI attraction, attracting foreign investment capital into the Vietnamese market so that foreign invested enterprises can cooperate with domestic enterprises to develop in the Vietnamese market.

In his concluding remarks at the Workshop, Deputy Minister Ho An Phong affirmed that the opinions at the Workshop were based on the practical operations of many businesses and those who directly engage in cultural activities. Many good opinions come from practice, originating from practice to build the Strategy, unlock resources, and promote the remarkable development of cultural activities in the coming time. Appreciating the opinions at the Workshop, the Deputy Minister said that many good opinions suggested many issues for the Drafting Committee of the Strategy, especially the difficulties and obstacles of those who directly engage in cultural activities. The Deputy Minister said that policy making is based on such voices, we must listen more to remove difficulties. The second issue is choosing the key areas in cultural activities. Policy making must be selective, not comprehensive, to create breakthroughs. Delegates agreed to choose 5 basic key areas to promote cultural activities in the next phase, but no single sector. We have identified a number of central sectors to promote, but the sectors are intertwined, linked and strongly supportive. We must update and clearly demonstrate in the Strategy, and clearly demonstrate the vision in policy making. "There is a strategy, a policy, and persistently step by step creating a mechanism to remove institutional bottlenecks in the development of the cultural industry" - the Deputy Minister requested. The Deputy Minister also said that there needs to be further research and advice from experts, localities, and cultural industry workers to create the best environment for cultural industry activities. After today's workshop, on the basis of receiving comments from delegates, the Deputy Minister assigned the Copyright Office to complete the draft and send it to relevant ministries, branches, localities, agencies, organizations, associations, businesses, and experts for comments before submitting it to the Ministry's leaders for consideration and decision to report to the Prime Minister./.