QUẢNG TRỊ — The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and the central province of Quảng Trị signed an agreement on communication co-operation in Đông Hà City on Thursday.

Under the agreement, the two sides have identified co-operation for mutual development as a strategic task in order to meet the country’s requirements of reform and international integration in the new situation.

They will exchange information to popularise policies and guidelines, and promote Quảng Trị’s culture, land, people, potential, advantages, and projects calling for investment to domestic and foreign friends through the VNA’s news outlets.

The VNA will cover information about Quảng Trị in all spheres, focusing on the building of the Party and political system, and the implementation of the provincial Party Committee’s resolution and the Politburo’s Directive No 05-CT/TW on studying and following President Hồ Chí Minh’s ideology, morality, and lifestyle.

The agency will expand its coverage of the opportunities and investment advantages in the Southeast economic zone; renewable energy and tourism projects; and clean, organic, and high-tech agriculture in Quảng Trị; as well as trade and tourism activities along the East-West Economic Corridor.

Quảng Trị’s efforts in administrative reform, business environment improvement, implementation of social welfare policy, the preservation of tangible and intangible heritage, the promotion of the image of local people, poverty reduction, national security protection, the building of Việt Nam-Laos border line, and the settlement of consequences of unexploded ordnances left by the wars will be highlighted by the VNA.

The VNA will support the portals of the provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee, and allow local press agencies to use its published products free of charge with clearly-sourced quotations, while helping the province train its reporters.

In response, Quảng Trị pledged to create favourable conditions for VNA journalists to operate in the province in line with the law, and instruct its localities and agencies to provide information for the agency.

Addressing the signing ceremony, VNA General Director Nguyễn Đức Lợi, who is also a member of the Party Central Committee, highlighted advantages of the agency which has representative offices in the 63 cities and provinces across the country and 30 overseas representative offices worldwide.

The VNA boasts the most products and information forms in the country, and is the biggest in Southeast Asia, he said, adding that the agency has set up bilateral and multilateral relations with nearly 40 major news agencies and press organisations across the world.

Lợi expressed his wish that Quảng Trị will continue to create conditions for the VNA and its representative office in the province to complete its assigned political tasks and implement targets set in the agreement.

For his part, Party Central Committee member Nguyễn Văn Hùng, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People’s Council of Quảng Trị, said that the VNA’s coverage of Quảng Trị in recent times has encouraged the provincial Party Committee, authorities and people to strive towards achieving further.

The official expressed his hope that the agency will step up information promoting Quảng Trị’s image through its products. — VNS