HÀ NỘI – Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and Xinhua News Agency of China need to increase news on political and socio-economic issues and promote the image of the people, culture and business climate in the two countries, contributing to deepening the friendship, understanding and trust between the Vietnamese and Chinese people.
President Trần Đại Quang made the suggestion during a meeting with visiting Xinhua President Cai Mingzhao in Hà Nội yesterday.
He highlighted new developments in the Việt Nam-China relationship in recent years, saying that the two sides established and added more vital mechanisms on bilateral cooperation across fields at all levels.
Co-operation between the two countries’ press agencies has been strengthened, helping enhance mutual understanding between their people, he said.
President Quang congratulated VNA and Xinhua on the signing of a new co-operation agreement, which defines priorities for their communication links in this new context.
He expressed his belief that co-operation among press agencies of the two countries in general and between VNA and Xinhua in particular, will continue expanding in the digital era.
The increased affiliation between the two news agencies complies with the press development trend and the Việt Nam-China Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation Partnership, he noted.
As Việt Nam hosts the APEC Year 2017 with about 200 meetings, the President suggested the agencies enhance links in popularising information on APEC co-operation.
For his part, Xinhua President Cai Mingzhao said his agency treasured President Quang’s recent visit to China, and constantly reported on the activities of the Vietnamese delegation.
Briefing the host on Xinhua’s operations in Việt Nam and highlighting the long-lasting relations between Xinhua and VNA, the Chinese official said that the two agencies signed many information cooperation agreements, thus providing timely and exact information on achievements in bilateral ties, contributing to practically bolstering the Việt Nam-China Comprehensive Strategic Co-operation Partnership.
He affirmed Xinhua and VNA defined their responsibility of creating good public opinions for the development of relations between the two Parties, States and peoples.
Xinhua commits to increasing information on the cooperation between the two nations and experience of each country in the reform process, and upholding its role in tightening the bilateral friendship, he said.
Aware of the importance of information work during the APEC Việt Nam Year 2017, he said his agency will send more correspondents to Vietnam to cover APEC events during the year.

Co-operation agreement

The Việt Nam Central Committee and VNA General Director Nguyễn Đức Lợi and Xinhua President Cai Mingzhao yesterday signed a new agreement to enhance their co-operation in the digital age.

This is the fourth agreement between VNA and Xinhua which aims to create a legal foundation for the two news agencies to expand collaboration in new communication areas besides maintaining traditional cooperation activities.
Earlier, Lợi and Cai Mingzhao held talks to review the agencies’ cooperation in the past and set forth orientations for future links.
Welcoming the Xinhua President’s visit to Việt Nam from May 23-27, the VNA General Director expressed his sincere thanks to Xinhua for its support and assistance of VNA over more than half a century.
Both host and guest held that VNA and Xinhua are restructuring to take advantage of information technology advances to continue maintaining the key role of the national news agencies in the Vietnamese and Chinese press systems.
The two sides agreed that in the current context, the two news agencies should adapt to the communication environment in the digital age, expand cooperation in modern media areas and share new working methods in order to better meet the requirements of press agencies and the public.
VNA and Xinhua set up ties in the early years of the 1950s. Since then, the two news agencies have seen effective cooperation in various fields such as information sharing, exchange of high-level delegations and reporters, support for each other’s resident bureaus and correspondents, and coordination at regional and international press forums, among others. — VNS