Experts on ethnic affairs, media agency leaders and reporters attended aconference organised by the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) in Hanoi onSeptember 24 to discuss measures to enhance the efficiency of VNA’sefforts to bring news to ethnic minority groups and communities inremote areas.

Addressing the event, Le Duy Truyen,VNA’s Deputy General Director, said over the past 69 years the agencyhad paid careful attention to the provision of news to ethnic minoritygroups and residents in mountainous areas, and in turn inform the publicabout these communities.

A number of publicationshas been issued on these topics, including “Dan toc va Mien nui (EthnicGroups and Mountainous Areas), a photograph magazine published in eightlanguages, which is expected to be published in three more by 2015, henoted.

VNA offices and bureaus in Vietnam’s 63 cities and provinces have also been involved in these efforts, he added.

However, he pointed out that the information on ethnic minorities andrural communities had not yet met public demand and the Party andState’s requirements on strategic communications in mountainous areas.

More than 10 talks analysed the current performance of media agencies in Vietnam in this field, including the VNA.

Chu Tuan Thanh, Head of the Communications Department of the Committeefor Ethnic Affairs, spoke highly of the role VNA played in distributingnews on ethnic minority groups and mountainous communities to thepublic.

Participants proposed a number of measuresto increase the efficiency of VNA in the field of ethnic minorities andrural communities.

Ha Thi Mai An, Head of VNA’sDomestic News Department, said it was necessary to focus oncorrespondents and contributors in the different localities to obtainup-to-date and diverse news.

All opinions gatheredat the conference will help VNA make use of its full potential andstrength as a national news agency, thus serving the public better infuture, especially ethnic minority groups and mountainous communities.-VNA