The outcome of these discussions was Decision 90/CP of 1997 on the ‘Direction and Policy of “Socialisation” (xã hội hóa) of Education, Health and Culture Activities’, which exhorts the Party Committee, the National Assembly, People’s Committees, state agencies, mass organisations, economic institutions, businesses active in localities and indeed every Vietnamese citizen to join together in mobilising resources for the ‘socialisation’ of education, culture and health. In this context, the aim of ‘socialisation’ is to optimise the value of existing government subsidy through the more efficient mobilisation of arts management manpower, and to diversify sources of financial support for artistic creativity – somewhat akin to ‘privatisation’ in other countries. In the words of the enactment, ‘Socialisation does not mean cutting down the responsibility of the state or diminishing the state budget; on the contrary, the state is constantly looking for other potential sources of income in order to increase the proportion of the budget spent on these activities, and at the same time to improve management with a view to enhancing the way in which these funds are used.’

The directive urges members of the Vietnamese cultural sector to be more enterprising in their work; management of existing government-funded arts companies must be streamlined, new sources of income identified and new audiences reached. It also lays the groundwork for subsequent legislation granting permission for the establishment of private arts and heritage organisations, for paying students to attend arts training schools, for joint venture companies to be set up and for successful cultural enterprises to be part-privatised.