Vietnam Book Day helps promote reading culture: Deputy Prime Minister

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam speaks at the event (Photo: VNA)

April 21 every year is designated the Vietnam Book Day under the Prime Minister’s Decision 284/QD-TTg dated February 24, 2014. 

Deputy PM Dam hailed publishing houses, organisations and individuals who have made great efforts to publish books and send books to remote areas. The mass media have also played an important role in promoting the reading habits and the love for books. 

For the good habit to continue spreading, the deputy PM requested the Ministry of Information and Communications to compile policies to facilitate book publishing and distribution, noting that there remain several problems in financial and economic mechanisms for publishing and other book-related activities that need to be quickly removed. 

He urged the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism to continue to implement its project on developing the reading culture and integrate it into other cultural development schemes. 

Dam also stressed the importance of international exchange and cooperation in order to introduce Vietnamese publications to foreign readers and vice versa. 

Minister of Information and Communication Nguyen Manh Hung reported at the conference that the number of book titles published in the past 5 years increased by 22 percent and the number of book copies went up by 55 percent. Many schools and communes have set up their own libraries. Two big cities – Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City – have operated book streets, while many localities regularly organize book festivals. A national book award has been held every year. 

In the next five years, the number of book titles published is projected to rise by 50 percent and book copies by 100 percent, while such activities as books’ days, book streets and book fairs will be multiplied across the country. 

Participants took the occasion to make recommendations on how to further promote the reading culture./.

VNA