Vietnam to Harness Culture as New Economic Growth Engine; Focus on Metrics and Implementation

Vietnam's Communist Party is strengthening its policy to leverage culture as a new engine for economic growth. At a meeting held in Hanoi on September 17, Politburo member and head of the Central Propaganda Department, Trinh Van Quyet, instructed the establishment of concrete metrics and implementation plans to measure culture's contribution to the economy. The meeting reaffirmed the goal, based on the resolutions of the 14th Party Congress, for cultural industries to contribute approximately 7% to GDP by 2030 and about 9% by 2045. Efforts to make culture a competitive advantage in economic, social, and foreign affairs were also called for. While the importance of culture has been recognized, there is now a need to clarify specific targets, roadmaps, deliverables, and responsible parties. Proposals from various ministries, local authorities, and media representatives focused on quantifying culture's contribution to GDP, identifying potential new growth drivers, removing barriers to transforming cultural resources into value, the role of digital transformation, intellectual property, and innovation, as well as mechanisms for coordination, monitoring, evaluation, and communication. Trinh Van Quyet urged a shift in focus from 'developing culture' to 'developing through culture,' emphasizing progress management through metrics, roadmaps, plans, and deliverables. While cultural industries are believed to contribute significantly to GDP, the current lack of a unified statistical system and standardized reporting methods prevents accurate measurement. Moving forward, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in coordination with the Ministry of Finance, will work to establish a national measurement system for culture's contribution. The aim is to develop and promulgate statistical indicators for cultural industries and national cultural indicators by the fourth quarter of 2026. Furthermore, each locality is urged to identify one to three key cultural products or sectors leveraging their unique strengths in heritage, festivals, traditional crafts, cuisine, and arts, and to incorporate development targets for cultural industries and cultural tourism into their annual socio-economic plans. Major cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hue are expected to serve as model cases, balancing the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage and reinvesting revenues from cultural growth into culture and human resources. Source: Nhan Dan