“Media agencies should provide sufficient information about various aspects of Vietnamese politics, economics and society to foreign media and organisations, and give quick responses to wrong information that has been disseminated with ill intent,” said Mr Khiem at a conference on information for overseas service in Hanoi on February 12.

He told media agencies to manage and check the dissemination of information to mobilise the aggregate strength of various government bodies while revising their operational methods to provide more diverse information and closely coordinate to improve efficiency.

Hong Vinh, deputy head of the Steering Board for Foreign Languages Media Coverage, said the media service targeting foreign audiences has actively disseminated information about the country’s Renewal process, the 10^th National Party Congress and socio-cultural activities. However, he said, the coverage lacks depth, thus failing to meet the demand for information about Vietnam by both overseas Vietnamese and international partners.

He urged the mass media in foreign languages to boost foreign trade as a core issue along with a number of targets set for 2007. He also called for more coverage in foreign languages on the up-coming election to the National Assembly in an effort to increase the overseas Vietnamese community's understanding about democracy in their homeland.

“Achievements in national Renewal and successful examples of workers, businesspeople and students should also be shown to the world”, emphasised Mr Vinh.

He also said foreign languages media coverage should deal more with the nation’s cultural identity which has well combined traditional values with modern trends.

VOVNews/VNS