Vietnam has approved a Cultural Diplomacy Strategy to 2030 with a 2045 vision that sets numerical targets for international festivals, artistic awards, heritage recognition, tourism destinations and overseas cultural centres. Deputy Prime Minister Phạm Thị Thanh Trà approved the program, according to the government strategy reported on July 22 by Việt Nam News.
By 2030, the country aims to win at least five prominent international awards in music, film or literature; operate five international arts festivals with distinct local identities; obtain international recognition for five additional heritage elements or cultural titles; develop 10 cultural and heritage destinations with global competitiveness; and open between one and three new Vietnam Culture Centres overseas.
The strategy is an attempt to make cultural influence administratively measurable. Its targets are clearer than a general promise to improve national visibility, but most count outputs rather than durable cultural value. The decisive evidence will be budgets, independent participation, audience reach, artist income, conservation condition and the continued operation of festivals after their first editions.
Five festivals can build institutions or calendars
The government is prioritising film, performing arts, cultural tourism and heritage, areas where Vietnam already has recognisable assets and a growing domestic audience. Five recurring international festivals could strengthen production skills, create commissioning opportunities and draw visitors beyond the largest cities. They could also become expensive calendar events with limited artistic independence.
Sustainable operation is the useful phrase in the official targets. A festival becomes an institution when it develops a curatorial identity, dependable financing, professional management and an audience that returns. A first edition can be produced through concentrated public spending; the second and third reveal whether sponsors, artists and local residents see value.
Local identity is another test. Positioning key provinces and cities as leading cultural destinations can distribute attention and tourism revenue, but only if the events grow from local practice rather than importing a generic international format. Distinctiveness must be visible in programming, language, commissioning and ownership.
The strategy calls for wider participation in established film festivals, exhibitions and book fairs. That is more credible than assuming new domestic events will immediately command global attention. Artists and producers often build influence through repeated presence in existing circuits, where selection is competitive and professional networks compound over time.
UNESCO recognition is a beginning, not a conservation plan
Vietnam wants at least five additional heritage elements or titles recognised by UNESCO and other international organisations by 2030, rising to 15 more by 2045. Recognition can attract funding, research and visitors. It can also increase pressure on fragile sites and living practices.
The counterevidence is visible across the region: inscription does not automatically protect a place from overcrowding, commercial development or environmental stress. A title can turn heritage into a marketing asset faster than authorities expand transport, waste management, conservation expertise and community participation.
The plan’s goal of 10 internationally recognised cultural and heritage tourism destinations therefore needs quality measures. Visitor totals alone are insufficient. Authorities should track conservation condition, resident sentiment, local business income, peak-load capacity and the share of tourism revenue retained by surrounding communities.
Readers of InfluenceAsia’s 2026 Asian artists record will recognise a related tension: international reach is valuable only when authorship and working freedom survive the journey. A national cultural brand cannot replace the choices of individual artists, filmmakers and writers.
Soft power now includes skills and technology
The strategy calls for cultural counsellors or attachés at diplomatic missions, initially in comprehensive strategic partner countries, and for training in negotiation, international law, intellectual property, event management, multimedia communication and digital cultural governance. It also names artificial intelligence, big data, virtual reality and augmented reality as required capabilities.
That workforce provision may be more consequential than the headline targets. Cultural diplomacy fails when events are separated from contracts, rights, archives and follow-up. Officials who understand copyright can protect creators during cross-border distribution. Staff with data skills can distinguish audience reach from paid exposure. Event managers can turn a state visit performance into a longer exchange program.
The government says the program should not create new organisational units or increase the number of civil servants abroad. That constraint encourages efficiency, but it also creates a capacity risk. Assigning cultural work concurrently to existing diplomats may produce thin coverage unless budgets, training time and specialist support are explicit.
Digital tools create another trade-off. Virtual access can expand the audience for collections and performances, yet poorly governed digitisation can detach material from provenance or expose rights holders to unapproved reuse. AI translation and recommendation can widen discovery while flattening language and context. The strategy’s technology ambition needs published standards for consent, attribution and preservation.
The 2045 goal is ambitious but externally scored
By 2045, Vietnam wants to rank among ASEAN’s top three and the world’s top 30 in the Global Soft Power Index. It also aims to host a global event such as a World Expo or another world-class cultural or sporting gathering, operate at least five more overseas cultural centres and gain 15 additional international heritage recognitions.
External rankings offer a benchmark, but they blend perception surveys and multiple policy domains. A rise can reflect diplomacy, economic performance or media visibility rather than cultural work alone. The government should therefore treat the ranking as one indicator, not the program’s controlling objective.
Hosting a mega-event is similarly double-edged. It can accelerate infrastructure and global attention, but cost overruns and underused venues can outlast the audience. The bid stage should publish capital requirements, reuse plans and independent demand assumptions. A successful cultural policy does not need the largest possible event; it needs institutions that keep producing work.
The strongest comparison is with distribution. Shiori Ito’s experience bringing a film back to Japan showed that rights and access can determine public reach even after international recognition. Vietnamese creators will face the same practical questions: who finances the work, who owns it, where it can be shown and how revenue returns.
Budgets will reveal the strategy’s priorities
The approved targets create a public scorecard. By 2030, observers can count festivals, awards, heritage titles, destinations and culture centres. A more meaningful assessment should also measure how much work was commissioned, how artists were selected, whether events recurred and whether cultural sites improved after recognition.
The next documents to watch are implementation plans from ministries and provinces. They should assign responsibility, disclose funding and identify which festivals, destinations and overseas cities qualify. Without that layer, national targets can prompt local authorities to compete for labels rather than build complementary programs.
Vietnam has given cultural diplomacy a numerical architecture through 2045. That makes the policy unusually testable. It also exposes the limits of counting prestige. Five festivals and five new heritage recognitions will matter if they leave behind stronger institutions, better-preserved places and more viable careers. The first budgets and provincial plans will show whether the strategy is designed to produce those conditions or simply to record the milestones.
Policy record: Vietnam’s Cultural Diplomacy Strategy to 2030 with a 2045 vision, approved by Phạm Thị Thanh Trà, and Việt Nam News reporting dated July 22. Photograph: Nguyễn Trần Trung Quân at Huế Festival 2018, by DangTungDuong, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0; cropped and converted to WebP.
