The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) has signed cooperation agreements with media partners of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to improve information efficiency and contribute to promoting the Vietnam-Kazakhstan and Vietnam-Azerbaijan Strategic Partnerships, which have just been announced by Party General Secretary To Lam and senior leaders of the two Central Asian countries.

The signing of the cooperation agreements took place within the framework of Party General Secretary To Lam's state visits to Kazakhstan (May 5-7) and Azerbaijan (May 7-8). It aims to implement the Vietnamese Party and State’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification of international relations, serving the country's development in the new situation.

The cooperation agreements, which were signed at an important time, demonstrate the role and mission of the media in deepening cooperative relations between Vietnam and Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan.

On May 6, at the Akorda Presidential Palace in Astana, under the witness of Party General Secretary To Lam and Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, VNA General Director Vu Viet Trang and Raushan Kazhibayeva, General Director of the Television and Radio Complex (TRC) of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan (TRC), exchanged the cooperation agreement.

Accordingly, the two press agencies will carry out comprehensive cooperation in the following areas: information exchange, training human resources to apply modern communication technology, and sending delegations of reporters to each other's countries to coordinate information production, share experience and models of journalism in the digital age.

On the same day, VNA General Director Vu Viet Trang visited the TRC headquarters. At their meeting, Trang and Kazhibayeva emphasised the need to implement the contents of the agreement so that the people of the two countries can better understand each other's situation, thereby promoting cooperation, exchange and connection activities in various fields in the spirit of the joint statement on General Secretary To Lam's state visit to Kazakhstan.

Trang also explored the production process of TRC's multimedia information products and learnt about the application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in creating diverse and attractive information products.

On May 7, in Baku, Azerbaijan, VNA General Director Vu Viet Trang and Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC) signed a cooperation agreement between the two agencies in the new period.

Based on the freshly-signed agreement, in the context of strong development of digital media platforms, the two agencies will continue to effectively maintain timely and diverse information exchange in various forms to disseminate official information about the situation of each country on the platforms, contributing to realising the Vietnam - Azerbaijan Strategic Partnership.

During the visit to Azerbaijan, VNA General Director Vu Viet Trang and Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC) Vugar Alyev held talks on May 8.

At the talks, the two sides discussed specific cooperation directions such as sharing experience in organising activities, digital transformation; studying and implementing activities to foster modern journalism skills; exchanging delegations at all levels; and effective coordination within the framework of multilateral cooperation forums like the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) and the Shusha Global Media Forum.

They agreed that the two sides had effectively implemented the first cooperation agreement signed by the two agencies in 2014./.