The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) needs more focus on getting the news out to the Vietnamese community and foreign friends abroad, as well as diversifying coverage to satisfy public demand and socio-economic development here at home, a senior Party official said.

Politburo member and permanent member of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat Truong Tan Sang made the statement at a working session with VNA staff on March 4 on the occasion of the Lunar New Year.

Sang stressed that difficulties and challenges lay ahead for the VNA, operating in a fiercely competitive media environment both in and outside the country and in the context of the information boom, the fast-paced development of information technology and the country’s ongoing process of in-depth integration into the international community.

To better fulfil its mandate, the senior Party official called upon the agency to hold fast to its 65-year tradition of contributing to national construction and development, to keep its staff strong in both politics and professionalism, and to fully tap its internal and external resources through using modern IT and increasing investment into its technical infrastructure.

He took the occasion to also call upon relevant agencies to assist the VNA in adapting and restructuring it’s organisation and management methods to meet future challenges head, upgrading its technical infrastructure, facilities, and financial mechanisms, creating new resources to spur the development of the news sector, and facilitating the effective operation of VNA bureaus overseas.

Sang also affirmed that the VNA has successfully fulfilled its mandate, serving as the most important news organ of the Party and State, providing timely and accurate information, and thus meeting the research and information demands of other agencies.

VNA General Director Tran Mai Huong said that the agency now boasts a staff of 2,200 people, including 1,000 reporters and sub-editors, domestic bureaus in 63 cities and provinces nationwide and 27 overseas bureaus.
The VNA has set up cooperative relations with almost 40 foreign news firms and press agencies worldwide as well as a number of international and regional press organisations, said the VNA leader.

With 38 news products, the VNA is exerting great efforts to diversify its use of media, from traditional products such as newspapers and magazines to modern media like the e-newspaper VietnamPlus, a newly-launched multi-language, mobile phone-based news service and the VNA’s first television channel, which will debut soon, he said./.