VNA General Director Vu Viet Trang and Prensa Latina President Luis Enrique González Acosta sign a cooperation agreement in Havana on April 19. VNA/VNS Photo Mai Phương

HÀ NỘI – General Director of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) Vũ Việt Trang and President of the Prensa Latina (PL) news agency of Cuba Luis Enrique Gonzalez Acosta signed a new cooperation agreement during their talks in Havana on April 18 (Cuba time).

The event took place within the framework of the ongoing official visit to the Caribbean nation by National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ.

The VNA leader highlighted the cooperation achievements between the two news agencies over the past nearly six decades and congratulated the PL on its new developments.

The continued cooperation with new projects is essential and matches global development trends, she stressed.

For his part, Gonzalez Acosta thanked the VNA for its support in all aspects since the two news agencies established their cooperative ties, noting that it would have been difficult for the PL to fulfil its tasks without the assistance amid the severe economic embargo against Cuba.

Gonzalez Acosta affirmed his further support to the VNA’s representative office in Havana in all activities when necessary, and in improving the quality of the Spanish version of the agency’s Vietnam Pictorial.

The two sides reviewed the implementation of bilateral cooperation programmes in information exchange, the publication of Vietnam Pictorial, expert exchange and support to each other's correspondents.

They shared the view on the importance of bilateral cooperation, which has helped maintain the flow of news, providing people of the two countries with diverse information and a true view on the development of the two countries and their socio-economic-political situation, thus contributing to enhancing understanding and traditional friendship between Việt Nam and Cuba.

Trang told her host that PL’s experts have helped the VNA effectively in producing information in Spanish, training young sub-editors and publishing the Spanish version of Vietnam Pictorial in Latin America.

In this regard, Gonzalez Acosta affirmed that the PL always stands ready to support and send experts to the VNA, adding that the experts said they had learned a lot during their term in the Southeast Asian nation.

To contribute to consolidating the Việt Nam-Cuba traditional friendship and celebrating the 50th anniversary of Cuban leader Fidel Castro Ruz's visit to Việt Nam (September 1973), the two sides agreed to coordinate in organising photo exhibitions in both countries. The VNA leader invited the PL chief to visit Việt Nam for the celebration.  

On this occasion, the VNA presented its Cuban counterpart with specialised equipment to help the PL meet development requirements in the digital age.

The two news agencies established their cooperative ties in 1966. The same year, the VNA opened its representative office in Havana, also its first in Latin America, creating a foundation for the VNA to open more offices in the region. The PL later also opened its representative office in Hà Nội.

The two news agencies have facilitated the operation of their correspondents in respective countries. The VNA has partially financed the operation of the PL’s office in Hà Nội.

The PL’s journalists and experts have actively covered the situation in Việt Nam, and have participated in the National External Information Service Awards in Việt Nam over the past years.

The partnership could be seen as a successful model of international cooperation of the VNA in both the wartime and the present period of national development and international integration.

The PL has been a quality source of information about Cuba and Latin America, as well as an effective external information channel for the VNA in the region. Meanwhile, VNA has provided a reliable source of information for the Cuban news agency in Southeast Asia. VNS