Director General of the Vietnam News Agency Vũ Việt Trang (centre) had talks with a delegation from the Governments of the French-Speaking Community of Belgium (Wallonie-Bruxelles) and the Walloon Region in Việt Nam. — VNA/VNS Photo Phương Hoa

HÀ NỘI — Director General of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) Vũ Việt Trang on Monday had a meeting with a delegation from the Governments of the French-Speaking Community of Belgium (Wallonie-Bruxelles) and the Walloon Region in Việt Nam.

At the meeting, Trang congratulated Nicolas Dervaux, Representative of the Governments of the French-speaking Community of Belgium and the Walloon Region in Việt Nam, for completing his term and welcomed his successor, Pierre Du Ville.

Telling her guests about the development of the VNA, Trang said that it was officially established on September 15, 1945. It broadcast the Declaration of Independence which gave birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, now the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam in three languages – Vietnamese, English, and French.

She emphasised French was one of the first two languages that the VNA used for its external service information. Currently, the VNA has carried out this kind of service in 10 languages, and French is still used as a key language of the agency's foreign service information work.

Trang said over the past time, the Governments of the French-speaking Community of Belgium and the Wallonia region has implemented cooperation projects with Việt Nam in various fields, bringing practical benefits to Việt Nam’s ministries and sectors, especially in human resources training.

The VNA is also a beneficiary of the effective cooperation relationship between the two sides, Trang said, noting the project to improve French proficiency and journalism skills for VNA’s French-language reporters.

She also expressed her hope that within the framework of a visit to Việt Nam by the King and the Queen of Belgium in 2024, the VNA can cooperate with Wallonie-Bruxelles to open a photo exhibition or multimedia show featuring products of beneficiaries of the project.

At the meeting, Nicolas Dervaux affirmed the successful cooperative relationship between the Government of Wallonia-Bruxelles and Việt Nam in general, and between its diplomatic mission and the VNA in particular.

The Wallonie-Bruxelles government highly values the cooperative relationship with the VNA, taking the new agency as its important partner.

Meanwhile, Pierre Du Ville said that in 2023 and 2024, the two sides will have a lot of activities to implement cooperation, especially the visit to Việt Nam by the King and the Queen of Belgium in 2024 which will open a new cooperation relationship.

He said that he will subsequently inform Belgium’s King and Queen as well as Vietnamese leaders about the cooperation relation with the VNA. — VNS