The closing session of the 39th meeting of the Executive Board of the Organisation of Asia Pacific News Agencies (Source: VNA) Seoul (VNA) – The Organisation of Asia Pacific News Agencies (OANA) condemned recent terrorist attacks worldwide in a joint statement issued at the end of its Executive Board’s 39th meeting in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, on November 17.
In the joint statement, the OANA members expressed their resolves to continue to report on acts of terrorism accurately and without fear or bias.
They committed to expanding their cooperation in keeping credibility as news agencies that provide quick and accurate news.
They promised to lead the media market with quick and accurate news services based on the understanding that the role of news agencies is ever growing due to the rise of mobile media.
They will vitalise exchanges and bolster cooperation in various fields among member companies to protect information sovereignty in the Asia-Pacific region.
At the same time, the OANA members will raise competitiveness and professionalism as news agencies by extensively sharing human, material sources and experiences among member companies.
In his closing remarks, Park No-hwang, President and CEO of Yonhap News Agency, which hosted the event, affirmed the important role and position played by the association over the past 50 years.
The OANA serves as a venue for its members to seek optimal solutions to information-related issues, he said.
The next boarding meeting has been slated for spring 2016 in Bahrain.
The association is scheduled to hold a general assembly in the Azerbaijan capital of Baku in November 2016.
The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) was elected as a member of the OANA executive board for the 2013-2016 tenure at the forum’s 15th general assembly in 2013 in Moscow, Russia.
In an interview granted to the VNA, OANA Secretary General Mikhail Gusman reiterated that news agencies will continue operating despite challenges stemming from the development of social media and new technologies.
He highlighted the crucial role of the prestigious agencies like Russia’s TASS, Vietnam’s VNA and other OANA members in providing specific, honest and impartial information.
The news agencies are responsible for what they publish, which is different from several current social media networks, he said.
Gusman noted his belief that as a regional organisation of news agencies, OANA will help its members improve their performance, thus popularising the world’s changes to all people.
The VNA delegation to the two-day meeting was led by General Director Nguyen Duc Loi, who affirmed that the VNA has trained its correspondent staff on skills to handle information on mobile devices as well as developed software and new information processing systems for its clientele.
The VNA has published news in Vietnamese and English languages on several social media networking, including Facebook – the most popular in Vietnam. In the near future, news items on French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and ethnic minority languages will follow suit and user-friendly applications will debut.-VNA
