Vietnamese Ambassador Vũ Viết Dũng (L) and President of SPA Abdullah bin Fahd Al-Hussain exchange a Memorandum of Understanding on information cooperation and exchange beween VNA and SPA signed on Sunday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — A Memorandum of Understanding on information cooperation and exchange has been signed between the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh on Sunday.

The pact was inked by Vietnamese Ambassador Vũ Viết Dũng, who represented the VNA, and President of SPA Abdullah bin Fahd Al-Hussain.

Under the MoU, the two agencies will supply each other with stories and photographs with captions in English.

At the signing ceremony, Dũng conveyed to the SPA President a letter from VNA Director General Nguyễn Đức Lợi.

The letter introduces the State-run VNA’s 75-year history and its relationship with more than 40 news agencies and press organisations worldwide.

The diplomat said the MoU not only marks a milestone between the two news agencies’ collaboration but also contributes to strengthening the Việt Nam – Saudi Arabica multifaceted ties and mutual understanding.

The SPA President praised efforts made by the VNA and support from the embassy for the signing to officially take place.

He expressed his wish to visit Việt Nam as soon as possible.

The Vietnam News Agency (VNA), a government agency with the function as the State news agency, operates under the consortium model.

With representative offices in all 63 cities and provinces nationwide and 30 overseas bureaus across the five continents, the VNA has a strong contingent of reporters working across the country and in most of the key areas around the world. This is a unique advantage that no other press agency in Việt Nam has.

With more than 60 media products produced by more than 1,000 reporters and editors out of the 2,300-strong staff, the VNA is the press agency with the largest number of information products and forms in the country, from source news in the forms of text, photo, television, infographics and audio to publications such as dailies, weeklies, magazines, pictorials, books, e-newspapers, websites, online and print newspapers, and information on mobile platforms and social networks, among others.

As the key national press agency for external affairs, the VNA provides domestic and foreign media outlets with news in Vietnamese, Chinese, English, French and Spanish. It also has print newspapers and e-newspapers in 10 languages: Vietnamese, Lao, Khmer, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, English, French and Spanish. — VNS