Hanoi (VNA) – General Director of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) Nguyen DucLoi has asked for the French news agency AFP’s cooperation in personneltraining at a meeting with AFP Chairman and Chief Executive Officer EmmanuelHoog in Hanoi on March 31.

TheGeneral Director said VNA has several French-language publications such as theFrench version of the online Vietnamplus e-newspaper and the Le Courrier duVietnam, hence the need for language training for reporters and editors. 

Heproposed considering cooperation possibilities between VNA and the AFP in trainingin the fields of multimedia and French language.

TheVNA leader lauded the effective cooperation of the AFP through the provision ofquality media products to the VNA in the past years, noting that the AFP is an importantsource of world news for the VNA, and other media agencies in Vietnam.

Loialso briefed his guest on Vietnam’s hosting of the APEC Year 2017, affirmingthat the VNA is willing to provide the AFP with information in various forms onevents throughout the year, as well as to assist AFP reporters in covering thoseevents.

Forhis part, Hoog said that his visit is a chance for him to get VNA’s feedback onthe quality of AFP products.

Heinformed the VNA leader on the expansion of AFP’s network in Asia, aiming todiversify its information products.

Heagreed with Loi’s proposal in collaboration in training French-language editorsand reporters, asking the VNA to give more specific details on possible cooperationcontents in the coming time.

Hoogsaid that he hopes the two sides will continue expanding the bilateral partnershipto more media products and forms.

TheVNA and AFP have cooperated in the form of information provision contracts involvingEnglish and French news and news photos. The AFP has also shared professionalexperience with the VNA and helped the Vietnamese State-run news agency studythe organisational model of international media agencies.

The VNA is now the media agency with the largest number ofproducts and forms in Vietnam with more than 60 media products: bulletins,photos, dailies, weeklies, monthlies, magazines, pictorials, books, a TVchannel, infographics, audio programmes, e-newspapers, and informationprogrammes on mobile platforms and social networks.

The agency also delivers news in the largest number oflanguages. In addition to official Vietnamese-language news provided fordomestic and foreign media outlets, stories for foreign services are written inEnglish, Chinese, French and Spanish – not to mention print and e-newspapers ineight other foreign languages, the four above plus Lao, Korean, Japanese andRussian. This is why the VNA is now regarded as the most important Vietnameseexternal news centre.

TheVNA maintains bilateral and multilateral partnerships with more than 40international media organisations. It is a member of the Organisation ofAsia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA), the Non-Aligned News Agencies Pool (NANAP),and the ASEAN News Exchange (ANEX).-VNA