Director General of Vietnam News Agency (VNA) Nguyen Duc Loi and his counterpart from the Cambodian Press Agency (AKP) Sok Mom Nimul held talks in Hanoi on April 8, discussing measures to boost bilateral cooperation.

The VNA Director General suggested increasing the mutual sharing of information and coverage of latest developments in the Vietnam-Cambodia relations and their traditional friendship.

He said the connection between the two agencies is not on par with the political relations between the two countries and they should expand their partnership for mutual benefit.

While reviewing the status of their recent coordination, Nguyen Duc Loi stressed the need to open more professional training courses, launch a technical upgrade project for the AKP, connect the VNA television channel (Vnews) with AKP’s cable television network, and publish the bilingual pictorial “Dan Toc & Mien Nui (Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas) in Vietnamese and Khmer languages in Cambodia.

The host asked the AKP to design a specific plan on VNA’s technical infrastructure support to be submitted to relevant Cambodian agencies and added to the portfolio of projects within the Vietnam – Cambodia Inter-Committee framework.

Agreeing with the VNA Director General’s proposals, Sok Mom Nimul said the two agencies should intensify the cooperation, particularly in popularising information on the formation of the ASEAN Community, slated to debut later this year.

She underlined the VNA’s help to the AKP and pledged close collaboration with VNA to introduce Vietnam and its people to Cambodians, thus contributing to the friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two nations.

With their cooperative ties established in 1979, the VNA and AKP signed a professional cooperation agreement in July 2006 in Hanoi, facilitating daily news and photo sharing, annual visits, technical assistance, expertise exchange and mutual consultations at regional and global forums.

The AKP has also offered all possible assistance to VNA reporters based in Cambodia

At the end of the talks, a document on the transfer of equipment as VNA’s aid to AKP was signed.-VNA