Experts from the relevant ministries, agencies and media gathered to discuss measures to boost the work at a forum hosted by the Central Steering Committee for External Information Service yesterday.
They argued that building and promoting a national image is the ultimate goal of all countries. In a world of integration with fierce competition among nations, a "beautiful image" is considered as an important element in the country's "soft power" that helps to affirm its position.
According to them, in recent years, the Vietnamese diplomatic missions abroad have played a crucial role in propagating and promoting the image of the country to the world. Currently, Vietnam has 96 diplomatic missions abroad, with the function of conducting foreign propaganda through press information activities.
Given their superiority, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ representative offices take the lead in providing official information related to Vietnam to international friends, scholars, the media and the Vietnamese community abroad. They also act as bridges to support businesses operating in tourism to promote the image of Vietnam to international friends.
At the event, delegates also emphasised the role of the media, especially the overseas press agencies, in promoting external information.
Pham Van Linh, Deputy Head of the Party Central Committee's Commission for Communications and Education, affirmed that the work on promoting Vietnam to the world is a long-term process, attained through absorbing external experience and promoting internal capability to further develop external information work.
Linh, who is also Deputy Head of the Central Steering Committee for External Information Service, urged communication agencies to control and select accurate information with effective communication methods to deliver the information to the public in many languages and various forms for effective dissemination.
