External information is an indispensable part of national foreignpolicy, contributing to introducing the country’s socio-economicachievements and integration efforts to international friends,Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Minh Khoi told the Vietnam NewsAgency.

During a recent interview, Khoi, who is also amember of the Steering Committee for the first National ExternalInformation Service Awards 2014, stressed the role of externalinformation in maintaining socio-political stability and strengtheningand expanding relations between Vietnam and other countries andinternational organisations.

It reflected thenational policies of socio-economic development, helping foreignfriends and overseas Vietnamese gain insight into Vietnam, whilespeeding up global integration, promoting economic cooperation,attracting foreign investment and tourists and tightening links amongthe overseas Vietnamese communities.

Through mass media andParty and State leaders’ interviews with the press, information onnational external activities has been highlighted, contributing toconveying Vietnam’s desire for peace, development and friendship withother countries over the world.

It also serves to updateregional and global situations, bringing international news toVietnamese people, the Deputy Minister stated.

Vietnam’s 98 representative agencies operating worldwide also playsignificant role in promoting foreign policies of the Party and Stateabroad, thus taking advantage of international support, forging linkswith foreign nations, and calling for contributions from the overseasVietnamese community to the homeland’s development, Khoi noted.

Accordingto the Deputy Minister, the Party and State have attached specialimportance to enhancing external information activities with a focus onpromoting Vietnam as a peace-loving democratic nation with dynamic andstable development.

Khoi underlined the need to reform anddiversify expression and popularisation forms of external informationwhile utilising modern communication tools and applying advanced scienceand technology.

Additionally, it is necessary toenhance national cultural introductions in external information productswhile encouraging press agencies to publish materials in multiplelanguages in order to meet the information demand of domestic andforeign audiences, he said.

The National External InformationService Awards 2014 aim to encourage reporters and press agencies tocreate quality external information products with rich contents andattractive formats to meet requirements related to foreign policies ofthe Party and State and contribute to national construction and defence,Khoi stressed./.