PANO – The Central Steering Committee for External Information Service held a briefing conference on the direction of the external information service in southern provinces and cities on October 5 in Ho Chi Minh city.

The conference was presided over by Head of the Central Party Committee’s Commission for Information and Education Vo Van Thuong.

Since steering committees for external information service were established in 52 provinces and cities nationwide under Conclusion No.16 of the Politburo (term 11) on the “Strategy for the development of external information service in the 2011-2020 period,” local-level external information service has become more active, efficient and professional, and as a result obtained a number of achievements. External information activities have been carried out in various forms and in a substantial and systematic manner. The scope and scale of the service has been increasingly expanded, effectively combating against hostile forces’ plots and attempts to spread distorted information in localities.

Head of the Central Party Committee’s Commission for Information and Education Vo Van Thuong speaking at the conference

The external information work in localities has actively contributed to strengthening social consensus in the localities and the whole country while taking advantage of support of the international community as well as overseas Vietnamese in promoting socio-economic development, maintaining political stability, national security, firmly protecting national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and improving the position of the nation in the regional and global arenas.

However, local-level external information service has still shown shortcomings that need to be fixed in the coming time. The role of the steering committees for external information service in provinces and cities has yet to receive duly support and care from local authorities, posing more or less difficulties for the local-level steering committees to mobilize all local efforts and assets for the external information work.

Concluding the conference, Mr. Thuong acknowledged the achievements of the service and required local-level steering committees for external information service to collaborate more closely with the Central Steering Committee for External Information Service in implementing their missions in line with the Politburo’s Conclusion No.16.

He asked local-level steering committees to be more active in consolidating their organizational structure and direction mechanism for smooth cooperation with relevant agencies to actively carry out the work.

According to the official, more stress was also laid on equipping external information knowledge for responsible staff in localities and press agencies so that they can better do their jobs.

Translated by Huu Duong