A national conference reviewing external information work, including publicising information on sea, islands and border demarcation in 2012, and defining orientations and tasks for 2013 took place in Hanoi on March 18. 

Addressing the event, Politburo member and Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee (CPVCC) Dinh The Huynh, said one of this year’s focus is to raise people’s awareness of the significance of the work. 

He also stressed the need to improve the efficiency of the external information work to garner more support from overseas Vietnamese and international friends for Vietnam ’s policies. 

Huynh, who is also Head of the CPVCC’s Commission for Popularisation and Education and the Steering Committee for External Information Service, urged relevant agencies, local authorities and the media to popularise the Party’s viewpoints and the State’s policies and laws regarding important national and regional issues, including the collection of public opinions on the draft amendments of the 1992 Constitution. 

He required that ministries, sectors and localities devise a plan on external information work and the dissemination of information on sea, islands and border demarcation, which, he said, will contribute to successfully implementing socio-economic development tasks and safeguarding national security and defence. 

The participants heard reports analysing shortcomings in this work and put forth specific solutions to raise the efficiency and quality of external information work in 2013. 

At the event, the Commission for Popularisation and Education presented certificates of merits to 20 units and 20 individuals in recognition of their contributions to the work.-VNA