Hanoi (VNA) – The Steering Committee on External Information Service held a conference at the headquarters of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) in Hanoi on July 5 to review its first-half performance and lay out tasks for the remaining months of this year.

Speaking at the event, Secretary of the Party Committee and General Director of the VNA Vu Viet Trang expressed the honour to host the event and expressed her belief that that the conference will put forth solutions to strongly renovate foreign information work in the coming time, making an important contribution to the national construction and defence as well as enhancing the position and prestige of Vietnam in the international arena.

According to the VNA leader, in the first half of the Party's 13th term, external information has significantly contributed to the country's achievements in many fields. Together with other agencies engaging in external information, the VNA has comprehensively reflected domestic and international issues and events, creating consensus and support of domestic and foreign public opinions for the Party's policies and guidelines and the State's laws and bringing the country and people of Vietnam closer to international friends.

In the coming time, the VNA will closely follow key contents and tasks set in the Politburo’s Conclusion 57-KL/TW to perform the external information mission more effectively in the new situation, she said.

Trang stated that as a standing agency for the ninth National External Information Service Awards, the agency has accepted entries since April. As of July 5, the organising board received around 250 entries in various forms, notably a gemstone painting, copies of posters, and ideas for showcasing booths to popularise Vietnam abroad. The deadline for accepting entries is July 31.

Head of the committee Nguyen Trong Nghia hailed the VNA for joining the press system and the political system's activities, including the Party, State and people-to-people diplomacy, to form a synergy in popularisation, helping promote Vietnam’s position, reputation, and achievements to international friends.

He acknowledged that in accordance with the directions of the 13th National Party Congress and the press work planning, the VNA has focused on transforming itself into a leading agency in digital transformation to fulfill its task as a multimedia press agency.

Nghia said the external information service helps people from walks of life, overseas Vietnamese and the international community understand and appreciate the country’s achievements during the first half of the 13th National Party Congress, thus affirming the Party's sound leadership, improving the country's position and reputation on the international arena, and popularising its image as an independent, self-reliant, culturally rich, and reliable country as well as an active and responsible member of the international community.

He asked the committee and units involved in external information work to fully follow the policy of enhancing information for foreign service and strengthening and improving the effectiveness of applying new media technologies and social networks in external information and public opinion struggle.

They were assigned to uphold the important role of external information work in political ideology and external affairs, in line with the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress and the directions of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the 2021 national diplomatic conference, and most recently, the Politburo’s Conclusion 57-KL/TW.

At the same time, they must further renew mindset and methods of deploying external information work, improve the quality of consultation and coordination; resolutely and persistently struggle against false and distorted allegations, enhance the effectiveness of research, forecasting and rapid response to strategic changes in the global and regional environments.

The conference also heard that the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat decided to add Deputy Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam and VNA Deputy General Director Doan Thi Tuyet Nhung to the steering committee./.