S Korean news boss hails VNA

HA NOI — Visiting President and CEO of Yonhap News Agency of the Republic of Korea Park Jung-chan praised the co-operation with Vietnam News Agency (VNA), describing it as one Yonhap's most important international partners, at a meeting with General Director of VNA Tran Mai Huong in Ha Noi yesterday.

He said he highly valued information provided by VNA and expressed his wish to develop the bilateral relations to become a symbol of co-operation among news agencies in Asia.

VNA General Director Huong spoke highly of the Yonhap delegation's recent visit, stressing the need to continue exchanging visits between high-level delegations, reporters and information. He also emphasised the need to increase mutual assistance between the two news agencies' bureaus in their respective countries.

"VNA is willing to support the implementation of language training programmes for Yonhap," the VNA General Director said.

He introduced VNA's functions as a national news agency, saying that VNA is accelerating its multimedia components, including mobile news and the TV station, along with existing media to improve the quality of its publications in order to provide information to foreign news agencies. In addition, VNA also focuses on personnel training and human resource development as well as management reform.

VNA values its co-operation with Yonhap, General Director Huong said, seeking to promote relations between the two news agencies to promote friendship between Viet Nam and the RoK.

Huong agreed with President Park Jung-chan on the importance of regular co-operation and said VNA would create favourable conditions for Yonhap reporters to cover news in Viet Nam.

In return, President Park Jung-chan said Yonhap will work to bring language training programmes to Vietnamese and RoK reporters and said the company was ready to share information technology with VNA. He also expressed his interest in VNA's initial efforts to launch a TV channel and said that Yonhap will soon have a TV channel of its own to meet the RoK people's demand and give their correspondents a larger voice.

Also at the talks the two sides agreed to further increase the quality and effectiveness of information exchange to produce quick and accurate news and act as a bridge between the two countries. During its visit, the Yonhap delegation also visited the VNA Television Centre. — VNS

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VNA seeks closer multimedia ties

ISTANBUL — Viet Nam News Agency (VNA) General Director Tran Mai Huong says multimedia is becoming an inevitable trend for the survival of news agencies and Asia-Pacific news agencies should co-operate in developing a multimedia platform to share their products.

Addressing the 14th General Assembly of the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) which was held in Istanbul, Turkey from November 24-27, the director general called on OANA to make adjustments in accordance with developing technologies and the habits of media consumers. "We are facing greater and more challenging competition as a number of our traditional key clients – some print newspapers – have already disappeared," he said.

"However, multimedia has become an inevitable trend for the survival of our VNA and like our fellow news agencies it is on that track."

He proposed the OANA co-operate in developing a multimedia platform on which member agencies can share video clips as they do with text news and photos.

"With this, member agencies can reduce production costs and raise prestige, as well as deliver more lively messages about our own countries," he said. General Director Huong and Mehr News Agency of Iran (MNA) Director General Reza Moqadassi signed a co-operation agreement between the two agencies while at the general assembly. The agreement lays a foundation for information exchange and professional co-operation, particularly for exchange of video clips and TV programmes in the English language which are of great importance in the present digital and multimedia age.

The participants at the General Assembly discussed and adopted the Istanbul Declaration which spells out the need for OANA members to increase co-operation in light of the globalisation of information and developments taking place in cyberspace. — VNS

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VNA urges closer regional ties in multimedia

Vietnam News Agency General Director Tran Mai Huong said multimedia was becoming an inevitable trend for the survival of news agencies and Asia-Pacific news agencies should cooperate on developing a multimedia platform on which they can share their products.

Addressing the 14 th General Assembly of the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) which was held in Istanbul, Turkey from Nov. 24-27, Huong called on OANA to make adjustments in line with developing technologies and the information accessing habits of media consumers.

“We are facing greater and more challenging competition as a number of our traditional key clients – some print newspapers – have already disappeared,” Huong said.

“However, multimedia becomes an inevitable trend for the survival of news agencies and our VNA, like other fellow news agencies, in on that track,” he added.

He called on OANA to cooperate on developing a multimedia platform on which member agencies can share video clips as they have done so far with text news and photos.

“With this, member agencies can reduce production costs and raise prestige, as well as deliver more lively messages about our own countries,” he said.

On the sidelines of the assembly, a cooperation agreement between Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and Mehr News Agency (MNA) of Iran was signed by VNA General Director Huong and MNA Director General Reza Moqadassi.

The cooperation agreement is aimed at diversifying news sources and promoting professional cooperation between VNA and MNA. It lays a foundation for information exchange and professional cooperation, particularly for exchange of video clips and TV programmes in the English language which are of great importance in the present digital and mutimedia age.

The two sides also pledged to extend their cooperation to all international forums at which they are represented.

The agencies attending the assembly and its parallel meetings of the 32 nd Executive Board Meeting (EBM) and the Editorial and Technique Committee Meeting (ETBM) were representatives from Asia-Pacific news agencies, as well as from media organisations in the Mediterranean and the Balkan regions.

The assembly aimed to assess achievements and implementation of activities put forward at the 13th OANA General Assembly held in Jakarta, Indonesia, in December 2007. The participants discussed and adopted the Istanbul Declaration which, among other things, spelled out the need for OANA members to increase cooperation in light of globalisation of information and developments taking place in cyberspace. The assembly also discussed ways of strengthening the mechanism for exchange of news, information and visual content between member agencies.

Participants stressed the importance of adopting multimedia in a world of global digital changes, the need for news agencies to stay aware of new trends and challenges in the era of new media, and to look for innovative ways to reach target audiences. They said these can be achieved partly through more OANA cooperation.

During the assembly, two seminars on the themes, “The future of news agencies in the digital age” and “The role of news agencies in the dialogue among civilisations and cultures” were also held with the participation of Bulent Arinc, Turkey’s Minister of State and Deputy Prime Minister and many other Turkish officials.

Hilmi Bengi, the Director General of Anadolu Agency of Turkey, assumed the presidency of OANA at the conclusion of the assembly and Anadolu will serve as its secretariat for the next three years.

The Trend News Agency of Azerbaijan and National Iraq News Agency were accepted as the 42nd and 43rd members of the organisation.

The 15th OANA General Assembly is scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia in 2013./.

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VNA-Telam agreement boosts news co-operation

BUENOS AIRES — The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and Telam, the National News Agency of Argentina have agreed to strengthen co-operation in multi-media communications and other related fields.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed between VNA General Director Tran Mai Huong and Telam Vice Chairman Sergio Fernandez Novoa in Bariloche city, Argentina, on Friday.

The MoU, the second of its kind between the VNA and Telam was signed on the sidelines of the 3rd World Congress of News Agencies (WCNA), and represents the foundation for the two agencies to exchange audio-visual information products, which the two leaders said played an increasing role in the modern communication world.

The two sides also pledged to expand activities to other types of communication and would co-operate in training work.

Speaking at the ceremony, VNA General Director Tran Mai Huong congratulated Telam on its successful organisation of the 3rd WCNA and expressed his hope that the national news agency of Argentina would act as a bridge for Viet Nam to access media sources in the South American region.

The Telam Vice Chairman affirmed that the co-operation with the VNA was an important step for Telam in expanding international news service coverage.

During their stay in Argentina, the VNA delegation held bilateral meetings with representatives of a range of news agencies, including France's AFP, Cuba's Prensa Latina, Japan's Kyodo, the Republic of Korea's Yonhap, Indonesia's Antara, Mongolia's Montsame, Australia's AAP, Mexico's Notimex and Paraguay's IP.

Global congress

The Vietnam News Agency delegation attended the third World Congress of News Agencies (WCNA) which concluded in Bariloche city on Friday.

The congress held four sessions focusing on new media technology.

Representatives from around 70 news agencies throughout the globe and related organisations discussed booming public demand for information and put forth several initiatives on new communication products and services.

At the congress, the World Council of News Agencies agreed to elect Sergio Fernandez Novoa, Vice Chairman of the National News Agency of Argentina, Telam, as the Chair of the Council for the new tenure.

The fourth World Congress of News Agencies is expected to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2013. — VNS

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VNA attends meeting of world news agencies

BUENOS AIRES — Vietnam News Agency (VNA) General Director Tran Mai Huong was among 150 chiefs and senior staff members from 68 news agencies to attend the opening of the third World Congress of News Agencies in Buenos Aires on Tuesday.

Argentinean President Cristina Fernandez highlighted the importance of the accuracy of news in the internet era. She called on news agencies to play an active role in the battle against biased and subjective information, while continuing to modernise their operations to stay on pace with the constantly evolving world.

Alex Grijelmo, president of the Spanish News Agency (EFE) and chairman of the World Council of News Agencies, asked participants to consider a deal regarding copyrights among major news providers in an effort to curb rampant illegal re-publication.

News agencies were said to be the providers of two-thirds of the daily world news.

The VNA delegation, led by Huong, is expected to hold meetings with foreign counterparts on the sidelines of the congress, which is due to close on October 22, to boost bilateral cooperation. — VNS

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