The Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs is building a global communication network with a view to enhancing communications with its offices worldwide.

The telecom network is being built by the Vietnam Datacommunications Company (VDC) in coordination with Orange Business Service, the enterprise division of the Orange France Telecom Group.

A memorandum of understanding on the collaboration between the Ministry’s Information and Communication Centre and the VDC was inked on August 6.

To mark the signing ceremony, the Foreign Ministry organised a test video conference between Hanoi , Paris and Singapore , focussing on simplifying administrative formalities, work on Vietnamese living overseas and cultural diplomacy.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Singapore Nguyen Trung Thanh suggested the Vietnam News Agency open a bureau in the island state and that Vietnam Television provide a VTV4 channel to furnish more comprehensive information of socio-economic, cultural and political life in Vietnam for the Vietnamese community in Singapore .

Speaking from France , Ambassador Le Kinh Tai said the Vietnamese community there is especially interested in laws on housing, land, nationality and administrative reform in Vietnam .

During the video-conference, Nguyen Sanh Chau, Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of Cultural Diplomacy and UNESCO affairs, requested that participating ambassadors promote activities related to cultural diplomacy overseas and widely publicise domestic cultural festivities to foreign friends./.