Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee To Huy Rua made this statement at the VNA Conference in Hanoi on September 11."

"As a State-owned news agency under the direct leadership of the Party, VNA plays an important role in the national press system," he further said.

The VNA not only supplies information for Party and State leaders' research and work but also provides news for mass media agencies nationwide, and serves local and foreign people's demand for information, said the Party official.

At the conference, VNA Acting General Director Nguyen Quoc Uy presented a project to develop the agency into a powerful national media group that performs political tasks and acts as a source of public information according to the country's socio-economic development in the international integration process.