In the open atmosphere of the meeting, VNA General Director Vu Viet Trang expressed his sincere thanks to Minister Nguyen Manh Hung and the delegation of officials from the Ministry of Information and Communications for their attention, encouragement and sharing with VNA on the occasion of the New Year.

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General Director of VNA Vu Viet Trang

Informing the Minister and the delegation, the General Director of VNA reported on some outstanding results in propaganda work and innovation in leadership and direction of VNA over the past year.

Over the past year, the press and media continued to affirm their important role in reflecting the mainstream of society, spreading positive energy, creating consensus, trust and determination in implementing the policies of the Party and State. Along with the national press, VNA has made its mark in leading information and orienting public opinion.

In 2023, more than 20,000 news items and nearly 165,000 photos of VNA were provided to domestic and international press agencies, of which domestic information accounted for about 28% and international information about 45%...

VNA's verified Facebook pages continue to spread official, authentic information. VNA's information is spread across multiple platforms, affirming its leading role in the country's information flow.

Presenting some proposals to the Ministry of Information and Communications, General Director of VNA Vu Viet Trang said that currently the advertising rate in newspapers is very low while in other channels it accounts for a higher rate, so she suggested that the Ministry continue to have a voice and direct the issue of tax reduction for the press.

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Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung with the delegation of the Ministry of Information and Communications and leaders of VNA.

In the 2021-2025 period, VNA will continue to implement the policy of reducing 10% of its staff; VNA is a public service unit and is currently unable to recruit more staff, while salaries cannot be increased but there is more work. VNA proposes not to further reduce its staff, but to increase the number of employees receiving salaries from the budget so that it can recruit more young staff to meet the requirements of innovation...

Regarding digital transformation, the General Director of VNA hopes that the Ministry of Information and Communications will continue to advise and guide on this issue as well as share experiences in ensuring system security and safety.

The Ministry of Information and Communications is the agency in charge of amending the Press Law (2016). VNA hopes that the new law will aim to create favorable conditions for the press and journalists to operate in accordance with the law, so that the press can develop in the new context.

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Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung speaks.

At the meeting, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung sent words of encouragement, greetings and New Year wishes to leaders, officials, journalists, reporters, editors and employees of VNA.

Minister Nguyen Manh Hung listened to the thoughts and proposals of VNA leaders, from which he shared and suggested solutions to VNA to ensure digital infrastructure and digital transformation; train human resources, improve ordering and task assignment mechanisms; and organize staffing.

2024 is an important year when the concept of "information" becomes "knowledge", the Minister assessed that there is too much information now, so there needs to be a tool to find the necessary information for users in that "sea of ​​information". Knowledge from information can be sold for money. Currently, knowledge in the press is mainly provided for free, the main source of revenue is advertising, so the Minister believes that this model needs to be changed.

2024 is also the year of widespread application of artificial intelligence (AI), the Minister suggested that VNA could cooperate with the Ministry's units to create an AI specifically for VNA. Because AI can help people handle many tasks, especially complex tasks with a lot of data.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung presents gifts and books to VNA.

The Minister suggested that this year, VNA must consider changing its revenue structure, not only relying on the state budget and advertising, but also finding additional revenue from other sources such as commissioned press, paid press, in-depth research press, etc.

According to the Minister, VNA has the advantage of having permanent staff in many locations around the world. VNA's branches can create news columns to serve economic and business development...

With the tradition of developing with the country, the Minister believes that in the new year, VNA will continue to innovate, be creative and proactive to fulfill its tasks well in the new situation; continue to affirm its position as a strategic information agency of the Party and State.