HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has proposed that the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and the Republic of Korea’s Yonhap News Agency continue strengthening their multi-dimensional co-operation and make more contributions to promoting the strategic partnership between the two countries.

He made the remarks at a reception for Park No-hwang, President and Chief Executive Officer of Yonhap, in Hà Nội yesterday.

The Prime Minister hailed the expansion of the bilateral collaboration between the two media outlets, saying it had helped increase mutual understanding between the two peoples.

As a partner of VNA, a leading news agency in Việt Nam, Yonhap is expected to boost information on the culture, land, people and business environment in the Southeast Asian country, the PM said.

He asked the two sides to focus on news about increasing the competitive edge and improving the investment climate in Việt Nam so as to attract more RoK investors, which is targeted to reach US$100 billion in the future.

Park No-hwang said his visit to Việt Nam aims to tighten co-operative ties with VNA and contribute to the enhancement of Việt Nam-RoK relations.

He also briefed the PM about the positive outcome of his talks with VNA General Director Nguyễn Đức Lợi, noting that the two sides signed a new agreement on professional co-operation, which will make it easier to provide accurate information on political issues, business environment and the Vietnamese and Korean land and people.

PM Phúc said a large number of Vietnamese and Korean citizens are living in each other’s countries. Korean culture is strongly developing in Việt Nam and the RoK is currently the second biggest foreign investor in the Southeast Asian nation.

He noted that 2017 marks the 25th anniversary of Việt Nam–RoK diplomatic relations.

VNA, Yonhap step up co-operation

The VNA and Yonhap News Agency will enhance the exchange of multimedia news in line with the development trend of the media in the digital era. This was agreed during the talks between VNA General Director Lợi and Yonhap President Park No-hwang yesterday.

They also agreed to improve the quality of exchanged photos and help to promote their reporters’ and editors’ Vietnamese and Korean language skills.

VNA General Director Lợi noted that both VNA and Yonhap have implemented co-operation agreements, which involved the exchange of news and delegations, assistance to correspondents, and mutual support at multilateral press co-operation forums. He said news provided by Yonhap was an important source of information about the RoK and the Korean Peninsula.

The Yonhap President, for his part, asked VNA to support the PyeongChang News Service Network (PNN), which is designed by Yonhap to serve the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics hosted by the RoK.

The news agencies set up the co-operation relationship in 1994, which was also the year VNA opened a bureau in Seoul. Yonhap sent correspondents to Hà Nội in 2000. — VNS