On the afternoon of October 23, at the 8th Session, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education, Mr. Nguyen Dac Vinh, presented a report explaining, accepting and revising the draft Law on Cultural Heritage (amended).
At this meeting, many opinions agreed on the establishment of a Cultural Heritage Conservation Fund to provide financial support for activities to protect and promote the value of cultural heritage.
However, there are also opinions that it is necessary to consider establishing this fund.
In reality, the establishment of a national and legalized Cultural Heritage Conservation Fund is extremely necessary.
First of all, the establishment of the National Cultural Heritage Conservation Fund, with financial resources coming from aid, sponsorship, support, and donations from domestic and international organizations and individuals, along with other legal financial sources, will help solve many financial difficulties in heritage conservation work.
For example, when a rare antique is being auctioned abroad for a large sum of money, such as the Emperor's golden seal, using the state budget to participate in the auction will be difficult.
However, if there is a Cultural Heritage Conservation Fund, we can mobilize finance from this fund or use available funds to auction and bring antiquities back to the country, instead of struggling to complain about the lack of funds as we are doing now.
Of course, as the National Assembly Standing Committee believes, the Cultural Heritage Conservation Fund was not established solely for the purpose of purchasing Vietnamese antiques that are scattered abroad.
This fund also aims to provide funding for practical and specific activities in preserving cultural heritage that the state budget cannot yet meet, such as: Preserving intangible cultural heritages at risk of being lost or forgotten; preserving, renovating, restoring and promoting the value of relics that the budget cannot yet "reach".
Furthermore, the establishment of a Cultural Heritage Conservation Fund is not new but has a precedent since 2022 when the Government issued Decree No. 84 on the establishment and operating regulations of the Hue Heritage Conservation Fund under the model of Government establishment and local management.
Therefore, the important thing to discuss now is not whether or not to establish a Fund, but to build a legal corridor, operating model and specific mechanism for financial management when the Fund is established.
It is often said that preserving and promoting the value of heritage is not only the responsibility of the Government, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism or a specific locality, but also the common responsibility of localities, people of the whole country and international friends.
However, if there is still no Cultural Heritage Conservation Fund with a specific financial operating mechanism, then calls for common responsibilities and obligations will only be theoretical and cannot appear in reality!
