External information is an indispensable part of national foreign policy, contributing to introducing the country’s socio-economic achievements and integration efforts to international friends, Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Minh Khoi told the Vietnam News Agency.

During a recent interview, Khoi, who is also a member of the Steering Committee for the first National External Information Service Awards 2014, stressed the role of external information in maintaining socio-political stability and strengthening and expanding relations between Vietnam and other countries and international organisations.

It reflected the national policies of socio-economic development, helping foreign friends and overseas Vietnamese gain insight into Vietnam, while speeding up global integration, promoting economic cooperation, attracting foreign investment and tourists and tightening links among the overseas Vietnamese communities.

Through mass media and Party and State leaders’ interviews with the press, information on national external activities has been highlighted, contributing to conveying Vietnam’s desire for peace, development and friendship with other countries over the world.

It also serves to update regional and global situations, bringing international news to Vietnamese people, the Deputy Minister stated.

Vietnam’s 98 representative agencies operating worldwide also play significant role in promoting foreign policies of the Party and State abroad, thus taking advantage of international support, forging links with foreign nations, and calling for contributions from the overseas Vietnamese community to the homeland’s development, Khoi noted.

According to the Deputy Minister, the Party and State have attached special importance to enhancing external information activities with a focus on promoting Vietnam as a peace-loving democratic nation with dynamic and stable development.

Khoi underlined the need to reform and diversify expression and popularisation forms of external information while utilising modern communication tools and applying advanced science and technology.

Additionally, it is necessary to enhance national cultural introductions in external information products while encouraging press agencies to publish materials in multiple languages in order to meet the information demand of domestic and foreign audiences, he said.

The National External Information Service Awards 2014 aim to encourage reporters and press agencies to create quality external information products with rich contents and attractive formats to meet requirements related to foreign policies of the Party and State and contribute to national construction and defence, Khoi stressed./.