Over 40 domestic and foreign press leaders, managers and journalists gathered at a seminar on November 5 in the northern province of Ninh Binh to discuss opportunities and challenges in press skills training.

The event was organised by the Press Department under the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) in conjunction with the Swedish Institute for Further Education of Journalists (FOJO).

At the seminar, Hoang Huu Luong, head of the Press Department, provided a panorama of the Vietnamese press circle and the country’s demand for personnel training in this field.

A representative from the Swedish Embassy reviewed the outcomes of a Swedish International Development Agency project that provided support to Vietnam’s media during the 1996-2013 period.

Anette Novak, a FOJO expert, made a speech on the world’s media and the training of journalists in the context of rapid globalisation as well as Vietnam’s media development in the future.

According to chairman of the press consultation and training council Do Quy Doan, globalisation is an inevitable and objective trend which has strongly impacted on all social domains in countries worldwide.

As a result, the media have got involved in the trend, helping to promote the process of globalisation, he said.

While sharing opinions on the opportunities and challenges in media development and training in Vietnam, delegates at the seminar sought ways to step up cooperation between the press training centre of Vietnam and relevant Swedish agencies, especially the FOJO.

Since its inception in Vietnam in 1998, the FOJO has helped form the press training centre under the MIC and organised training courses for Vietnamese reporters and editors across the country.-VNA