About 50 reporters and editors from local and central press agencies in Ho Chi Minh City gathered to discuss the state of external information service at a meeting in the city on January 13.

Addressing the event, Doan Tuan Linh, Vice Director of the Ho Chi Minh Department of Foreign Affairs, stressed the need to strengthen coordination and information sharing between foreign affairs agencies and media, particularly reporters covering external activities, to further improve the efficiency and quality of foreign news service in the city.

Housing over 50 consulates and about 100 international organisations, HCM City works to promote foreign news service and considers it an important tool to boost international cooperation in various fields between the city and international partners.

Do Van Hop, head of the Vietnam News Agency’s News Department for Foreign Service, emphasised the importance of external news affairs in introducing Party and State policies to the world, promoting the country’s image, and providing corrections and repudiating inaccurate information from reactionary organisations.

He highlighted shortcomings in the country’s foreign news, including the low number of in-depth news and commentaries.

He called on editors and reporters in external information affairs to enhance their knowledge, contributing to implementing the country’s external works amidst present diversified and multidimensional information sources.

Vietnam News Agency (VNA) has actively covered external activities of the Party and State leaders in a timely and accurate manner.

Last year, VNA provided hundreds of text, photo, and video news stories relating to activities in the city, introducing the southern economic hub’s achievements and potential advantages in attracting investment.-VNA