The PM’s spokesperson Nguyen Kinh Quoc said that PAN and Nhan dan (People) were the two newspapers found on Khai’s desk every day.
Before 2000, PAN only had the printed daily publication with four pages and had not yet created the online newspaper. At that time, Vietnam was cautiously monitoring a large number of events, in both internal and external relations areas. Furthermore, it was necessary to popularize the country’s activities to other readers abroad, especially the overseas Vietnamese and those who were hungry for information about the homeland or simply had an interest or fondness for Vietnam.
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PM Phan Van Khai talking with the Editorial Board of the People’s Army Newspaper in early 2005 |
In the face of these legitimate demands and based also on their readers’ recommendations, the Party Committee and Editorial Board of PAN were determined to expand the scope of the newspaper and increase the number of pages for their printed daily while also launching the online newspaper. The project was then submitted higher levels for consideration.
After receiving the ratification from the Ministry of National Defense and the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People’s Army, PAN immediately initiated the plan.
The then PM Khai learned that PAN would be debuting the online newspaper on December 20, 2002 on the occasion of the VPA’s 58th founding anniversary and, despite being very busy, the PM enthusiastically agreed to attend the opening ceremony.
On the morning of December 20, 2002, PAN’s staff and reporters welcomed PM Khai and leaders of the Defense Ministry, the VPA’s General Department of Politics, the Ministry of Culture and Information (now Ministry of Information and Communications) to the debut of the PAN’s online publication.
Addressing the event, PM Khai acknowledged PAN’s achievements and reaffirmed that PAN was a leading political newspaper of the country.
As an organ of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense and the voice of the Vietnamese armed forces and people, the newspaper had to make efforts to accomplishing all assigned tasks, be deserving of the trust of the Party and love of readers and deserve to be the newspaper named by President Ho Chi Minh, he underlined.
After that, PM Khai together with other delegates pushed a button to launch the PAN's online publication – the People’s Army Newspaper Online (PANO). The debut of PANO marked a new development and enhancement of PAN in the current context.
Though PM Khai passed away, his sentiment for PAN’s staff and reporters will be forever remembered.
Translated by Van Hieu