Mr Manh made the statement while paying a New Year visit to VTV leaders and staff on February 13 in Hanoi.

He praised VTV staff for making significant contributions to the national cause during 37 years of construction and development. Along with the strong development of the national press, VTV has made every effort to become a core media agency of the Party, State and people. Five VTV channels have covered useful information about the country’s Doi Moi (Renewal) process, helping boost socio-economic development, culturally and socially improve people’s knowledge, intensify foreign affair-related propaganda activities and promote Vietnam’s image around the world. In addition, VTV programmes have extolled exemplary role models while criticizing negative phenomena and smashing wrongful allegations by hostile forces.

The Party leader also underscored the need to further increase the quality of VTV programmes in such areas as politics, culture and ideology, education and aesthetics, requiring television programmers to meet people’s increasing demands for better programmes in the new situation.

VTV should pay special attention to training human resources aimed at developing a strong contingent of qualified cadres who hold firm political stance and are capable of accessing advanced technology so that VTV can keep pace with the press development level in the region and the world. It is important for VTV to socialize its programmes, expand commercial services and build appropriate mechanisms to make its operations more effective, Mr Manh noted.

The same day, the Party leader attended a New Year meeting hosted by the Central Party Committee’s Office in the presence of former Party General Secretaries Do Muoi and Le Kha Phieu, and representatives of generations of the office.