MOCST’s Minister Nguyen Van Hung said, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has had many foreign affairs activities to effectively implement the Party diplomacy; help international friends understand more about advanced Vietnamese culture, rich in national identity; preserve national cultural identity. Vietnamese culture is now more present on the international map. Important international events all have the appearance of Vietnamese culture. Through culture, from culture, and by culture, the images of the country and people of Vietnam have been known to people across continents.

MOCST’s Minister Nguyen Van Hung speaking at the meeting (Photo: TITC)

The Minister hopes that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Heads of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad will continue to coordinate with agencies of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to jointly spread the good values of culture to international friends, to even the most remote countries. Culture has a sacred mission, strengthening understanding and solidarity between peoples. At the same time, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism requested the Heads of representative agencies to continue to deeply grasp the views, policies and guidelines of the Party and State on foreign affairs in general and foreign affairs in the field of culture in particular.

The Minister also noted that Vietnamese Cultural Days/Weeks abroad need to be organised in a 3-in-1 direction: Events must ensure effective promotion of Vietnam's image, country and culture associated with tourism promotion; signing international cooperation documents, especially facilitating cooperation in tourism; seeking cooperation opportunities to improve achievements for Vietnamese sports. In addition, it is necessary to upgrade the organisation of Vietnamese Cultural Days/Weeks abroad, which emphasises the role of overseas Vietnamese as the subject of the events; targeting countries and territories with large numbers of Vietnamese expatriates; there is a combination of traditional and modern elements.

Regarding tourism, the Minister requested the Heads of Representatives to support the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in expanding potential markets, finding partners and customers.

Regarding communication work, the Minister requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Heads of representative agencies to coordinate and support connections to cooperate and promote Vietnamese culture on digital platforms of major media companies such as CNN, Google, Netflix…Through the language of cinema, we must widely promote to international friends prosperous Vietnam rich in cultural identity; friendly and hospitable”, emphasised Minister Nguyen Van Hung.

Ms. Nguyen Phuong Hoa, Director of the Department of International Cooperation (under MOCST) speaking at the meeting (Photo: TITC)

Overview of the meeting (Photo: TITC)

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh, Chairman of Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT) overviewed the results achieved by the tourism industry in recent times. Accordingly, Vietnam tourism in the period 2015-2019 ranked 6th in the top 10 countries in the world with tourist growth rate; ranked 4th in the ASEAN region. After the pandemic, Vietnam tourism has made strong recovery steps, with the number of international visitors growing clearly after opening from 15th March 2022. In particular, from 15th August 2023, Vietnam officially applies electronic visas to citizens of all countries and territories with a stay duration of up to 90 days and is valid for multiple entries. At the same time, the stay duration for citizens of countries with unilateral visa exemption from Vietnam is increased to 45 days. This open policy is happily welcomed by the international community and is considered to be an important lever to promote the growth of international visitors to Vietnam in the coming period.

Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh, Chairman of Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT) speaking at the meeting (Phot: TITC)

VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh added, the leading traditional source markets of Vietnam tourism include Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, in addition, markets such as North America, Australia, New Zealand, India, and the Middle East are rich in potential ones. VNAT’s Chairman Nguyen Trung Khanh hopes that VNAT will continue to receive cooperation and support from Heads of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad.

MOFA’s Deputy Minister Do Hung Viet said that President Vo Van Thuong has appointed 26 Ambassadors and Heads of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad.

MOFA’s Deputy Minister Do Hung Viet speaking at the meeting (Photo: TITC)

MOFA’s Deputy Minister Do Hung Viet emphasised, cultural diplomacy is an important pillar of foreign affairs, contributing to enhancing and spreading Vietnamese cultural values to the international community. Cultural diplomacy work has been implemented synchronously and comprehensively by the Party and State and has achieved very important achievements. Cultural diplomacy has made great contributions to the country's socio-economic development; contributing to enhancing national position.

MOFA’s Deputy Minister Do Hung Viet added, many culture, sports and tourism promotion programmes jointly organised by the two sides have created a joyful and exciting atmosphere in the Vietnamese community abroad. Along with that, helping people and international tourists better understand our country's advanced culture and rich national identity; create a "push" for attracting tourists.

In the next stage, Ministry of Foreign Affairs in general and Vietnamese diplomatic representative agencies abroad in particular will continue to coordinate closely with functional units of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the fields, contributing to promoting foreign affairs, serving cultural diplomacy tasks well, and enhancing people-to-people exchanges.

MOCST’s Minister Nguyen Van Hung gifting souvenir to MOFA’s Deputy Minister Do Hung Viet (Photo: TITC)

Regarding the field of tourism, MOFA’s Deputy Minister Do Hung Viet requested the two Ministries and Heads of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad to coordinate in researching, proposing and implementing solutions to promote culture and tourism in the direction of expanding markets and focusing on potential markets to attract visitor exchanges; create a bridge for management agencies and businesses from other countries to have opportunities to cooperate with Vietnam.

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Heads of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad sharing at the meeting (Photo: TITC)

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Leaders of the two Ministries taking souvenir photo (Photo: TITC)

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