A view of the plenary session. Photo: VNA 

The anniversary celebration was held as part of the OANA Media Forum, with a congratulatory message from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

More than 70 representatives from 24 member news agencies attended the event, which also saw the presence of Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova, Global Fact-Checking Network (GFCN) Director General Vladimir Tabak, TASS Director General Andrey Kondrashov, who is the current OANA Chair.

The Vietnamese delegation, led by General Director of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) Vu Viet Trang, who is also Secretary of the VNA Party Committee and Vice Chairwoman of the Party Central Committee's Commission for Publicity, attended the ceremony and held bilateral meetings with leaders of news agencies on the sidelines.

VNA Director General Vu Viet Trang attends the plenary session. Photo: VNA

In his congratulatory message, President Putin said OANA has made significant contributions to the development of regional journalism and media, growing into a respected and influential media organisation. He highlighted the organisation's efforts to build a media community based on quality, objective and professional journalism.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Peskov said news agencies around the world are facing unprecedented challenges as technology develops rapidly while the global economic and political landscape continues to evolve.

He stressed that news agencies must continue to play an important role in providing reliable and official information and countering harmful and false information in regional and global information flows.

VNA Director General Vu Viet Trang addresses the plenary session. Photo: VNA

The OANA Media Forum featured discussions on three key topics: approaches by news agencies to combating the spread of fake news; media and artificial intelligence (AI), including methods and ethics in the digital era; and content quality and strategies for maintaining journalistic standards.

Nguyen Duc Vu, Director of the VNA's Technical Centre, presented a paper on the VNA's approaches and management methods, as well as challenges in developing databases and applying AI to news production.

As fact-checking increasingly needs to cross national borders, OANA and Russia's GFCN signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation. The framework is expected to give OANA members additional tools to publish official information, verify information and provide responses and corrections through the GFCN platform.

The cooperation aims to promote a more connected regional media environment in which news agencies can share information and contribute to joint efforts to improve information quality.

VNA General Director Vu Viet Trang receives the second prize in the Best Article category at the OANA Best Article Competition 2026 from TASS Director General and OANA Chair Andrey Kondrashov. Photo: VNA

Before the anniversary ceremony, participants visited an exhibition featuring photographs highlighting OANA's development over the past 65 years.

Speaking at the exhibition's opening, TASS Director General Andrey Kondrashov said OANA's history reflects the development of journalism in the region. While technologies, platforms and ways of delivering information have changed, he noted, the core values of journalism remain unchanged.

On the sidelines of the event, VNA General Director Vu Viet Trang held separate meetings with leaders of TASS; Malaysia's BERNAMA; the Republic of Korea's YONHAP; Azerbaijan's AZERTAC; Kazakhstan's TRC media group; and Türkiye's Anadolu news agency.

The news agency leaders discussed common challenges facing the sector and opportunities for further cooperation. They exchanged experience in operating news agencies in the digital era and discussed professional cooperation, including updating knowledge and skills for digital journalism personnel.

They also considered joint photo exhibitions on important bilateral occasions and co-production of media products to introduce the culture, tourism and sports of their respective countries, thus contributing to economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

VNA General Director Vu Viet Trang and MONTSAME Director General Enkh-Orshikh Khurlee sign a cooperation agreement. Photo: VNA

The agency leaders also shared experience in researching and applying AI in news production and in improving the efficiency of information exchange.

Within the forum, Trang and MONTSAME Director General Enkh-Orshikh Khurlee signed a new-period cooperation agreement, with several areas of collaboration updated in line with developments in modern journalism, contributing to the Vietnam–Mongolia Comprehensive Partnership.

The VNA also won second prize in the Best Article category at the OANA Best Article Competition 2026 for its longform story “Culture positioned as score driver of Hanoi’s century-long development”.

Established on December 22, 1961, in Bangkok, Thailand, at the initiative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), OANA comprises 41 member news agencies from 33 countries. It was founded to address imbalances in the flow of information about the Asia-Pacific region worldwide and contribute to peace and greater understanding among nations.

Today, OANA's cooperation focuses on direct information exchange among member agencies and professional exchanges between OANA and partners in and outside the region, while promoting new forms of cooperation to help news agencies respond to the changing media landscape./.