VNA to host 44th OANA Executive Board meeting in early 2019

 

The agreement was reached at the 43rd meeting of the OANA Executive Board which opened in Tehran, Iran, on September 3, where the delegates discussed solutions to enhance the organisation’s operations in the current situation.

On behalf of the Iranian government, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Abbas Salehi attended the opening ceremony. The Vietnamese delegation to the meeting was led by VNA General Director Nguyen Duc Loi, who is also a member of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee.

In his opening remarks, Managing Director of the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) of Iran Zia Hashemi said after 57 years of development, OANA has now become the provider of two-thirds of information in the globe but it has failed to gain influence on the international arena as expected.

OANA needs to restructure and renovate itself by mobilising the capacity of all members in a bid to become a more active organisation, he said.

OANA President Aslan Aslanov, who is General Director of the Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC), suggested holding a conference or a workshop as part of the Executive Board meetings bringing together all member agencies in order to exchange experience. 

He also proposed establishing a training academy for professional staff and recommended OANA members to equip themselves with ideas and technological knowledge to cope with new challenges.

 

Speaking at the meeting, VNA General Director Nguyen Duc Loi emphasised the importance of sharing information among OANA member agencies as it will help improve connections, narrow the gap of awareness of events and issues, and enhance mutual understanding.

The information of each agency has its own features, creating its values and strength, hence the cooperation and sharing of news will bring a more comprehensive and profound view about the same event or matter, Loi said.

The VNA General Director also highlighted the importance of diversifying communication platforms to increase the spread of news in line with the development of technology as well as changes in the way of accessing information of the public in the digital era.

Loi affirmed that the development of technology and the public’s increasing demand for information have forced each agency and OANA in general to continuously innovate and improve the efficiency so that voices from the Asia-Pacific region could play a decisive role in the global cooperation and development process.

At the meeting, the delegates also agreed upon a number of basic contents of the 17th OANA General Assembly which is scheduled to be held in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, in November 2019.

On the sidelines of the meeting, VNA General Director Nguyen Duc Loi had working sessions with OANA President Aslan Aslanov, OANA Secretary General Vugar Seidov, and IRNA Managing Director Zia Hashemi to discuss preparations for the upcoming meeting of the OANA Executive Board in Vietnam.

The VNA General Director also granted an interview to IRNA about relations between Vietnam and Iran as well as between the two news agencies.-VNA