The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese (SCOV) on Sept. 25 signed an agreement on providing information to overseas Vietnamese to promote their patriotism.

The agreement, signed by VNA General Director Tran Mai Huong and Deputy Foreign Minister-cum-SCOV Chairman Nguyen Thanh Son, stipulated that the SCOV will provide information on party and state policies related to overseas Vietnamese for the VNA to air abroad through different channels.

For its part, the VNA pledged to disseminate as much of the information as possible. As Vietnam’s only national news-wire service, VNA reaches a wide audience through its 38 publications, including four dailies and one publishing house, and is going to launch a TV channel soon.

The VNA will air the latest news in Vietnamese, English, French and Spanish and promote the national traditions as well as the image of the homeland and its people to the international community, especially overseas Vietnamese, so as to update them on national developments and promote their patriotism, VNA chief Huong said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Son highly valued the role played by the VNA in the recent past as the nation’s top courier of information to the almost 4 million-strong overseas Vietnamese population in 102 countries and territories. He said stronger cooperation between the two agencies would contribute to strengthening ties between expatriates and their native land.

“Overseas Vietnamese are an integral part of the great national unity,” emphasised the senior diplomat./.