Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh has hailed the role of the mass media in carrying out the Party and State’s policy on external relations in 2014.

At a meeting with the media on February 5 on the occasion of the upcoming Lunar New Year, the Deputy PM thanked media agencies and journalists for their timely coverage of the government’s external activities as well as the Foreign Ministry’s response to the latest developments in the world situation.

He stressed that external relations have contributed greatly to safeguarding the national sovereignty and independence, while helping the country integrate deeper into the world economy and enabling it to make active contributions to regional and global security and development issues.

Last year saw Vietnam strengthen its friendship and effective cooperation with neighbouring and regional countries as well as with major powers and traditional friends in the world, the Deputy PM said, adding that trade and investment ties with most partners have also been intensified along with stronger political-diplomatic and national defence-security cooperation with most countries.

Deputy PM Minh noted that the world economic situation is expected to see great changes this year with potential impacts on Vietnam’s economic development and security. Therefore, the tasks will be heavy for the external relation sector, he said, calling on the domestic media agencies to continue coordinating closely with the Foreign Ministry.

On behalf of media agencies, General Director of the Vietnam News Agency Nguyen Duc Loi affirmed that the media will always work closely with the diplomatic sector. He suggested that the Foreign Ministry continue to collaborate with the media to promote information popularisation to serve external relations.

VNA