The Ministry of Information and Communications is working on a draft decree to ensure the unified management of external information activities.
External information, as defined in the draft, includes official information and public information on Vietnam provided by competent Vietnamese agencies and information about the world situation summarized and provided by overseas Vietnamese representative missions, the Vietnam News Agency, the Vietnam Television and the Voice of Vietnam.
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| Photo: Internet |
According to the regulation, the State would encourage and create conditions for agencies, organizations and individuals to carry out external information activities, paying attention to the involvement of international famous figures as well as foreign organizations, individuals and journalists.
Press agencies and publishers would be encouraged to seek lawful funding sources for external information activities.
Particularly, textbooks and teaching equipment would be provided for the teaching and learning of Vietnamese for foreigners and Vietnamese communities residing abroad.
The draft decree says that the provision of official information on Vietnam in the mass media and information about the world situation must follow the direction and guidance of the Ministry of Information and Communications. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vietnam News Agency, Vietnam Television and Voice of Vietnam, ministries, sectors and local authorities should coordinate with the Ministry of Information and Communications in providing official information.
The Ministry of Information and Communications is assigned to create, manage and operate a national external information portal and build a national database on external information.
The national external information portal would comprise specialized information sections in Vietnamese and a number of foreign languages to provide official external information and other public information via the Internet.
Meanwhile, the national database on external information would be a source of official information on Vietnam for reference by domestic and foreign mass media agencies as well as researchers.
The draft also requires the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to direct overseas Vietnamese representative missions to build their information portals in both English and the language of the host country and update public information on the Vietnamese land and people from the national database on external information.
The new regulation would replace the Prime Minister’s Regulation on state management of external information issued in November 2010.-
