Cooperation agreement between Armenpress and VNA brings Armenia and Viet Nam closer

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. Armenia and Viet Nam are strengthening the circle of cooperation by building media bridges: Armenpress and the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) signed a cooperation agreement on November 14.

The signing ceremony was held online.

The agreement was signed by Armenpress Director Narine Nazaryan and Vietnam News Agency Director-General Vu Viet Trang.

Armenia’s Ambassador to Viet Nam Vahram Kazhoyan, whose efforts were instrumental in the implementation of signing this agreement, joined the ceremony from Hanoi.

The agreement will allow the two news agencies to exchange their media products, news reports, photos and videos.

In her speech, Director Narine Nazaryan said that Armenpress highly values international partnership and treats its mission of bringing the world closer to its readers very seriously. “This is why Armenpress is steadily expanding the list of its international partners: today, yet another highly important and significant agreement is supplementing the range of cooperation agreements we have signed with news agencies of approximately 30 countries. The geography of our partners encompasses almost every continent, from the Americas to Asia, from Europe to Africa. This cooperation agreement is the first one with any of the ASEAN countries. We are currently developing a similar agreement with the news agency of the Philippines, and we hope to finalize and sign it very soon. This cooperation is immensely significant in this era of technological development, when information knows no boundaries. Our mutual commitment of comprehensively, rapidly and accurately reporting the news will undoubtedly strengthen the relations between Armenia and Viet Nam. With this agreement, we assume a commitment to discover the potential of the Armenian-Vietnamese cooperation, to expand and strengthen the cultural ties, implement joint projects, and contribute to the two peoples getting to know each other’s culture and values better,” Nazaryan said.

Narine Nazaryan said that this year Armenpress will mark its 105th anniversary of foundation. She also announced the upcoming launch of new foreign language departments in the agency.

“Our reputation of a reliable and trusted news agency which we’ve been committed to over the course of a century makes us constantly move forward in line with technological progress and time. Armenpress distributes its news reports in six foreign languages – English, Russian, Arabic, French, Turkish and Spanish. Taking this historic occasion, I am proud to announce the upcoming launch of the Georgian, Chinese and Iranian language departments at our agency, which will be available in the coming days. We realize our mission of creating strong and reliable media ties between Armenia and the rest of the world, and we seek to present our news product, as well as the news products of our partners, through our multi-language newswire to a bigger audience,” Nazaryan said.

The Armenpress Director also talked about the crucial role of the news media in promoting mutual recognition between nations. She thanked the staffs of the two news agencies for their contributions in reaching this milestone.

“The news media playa crucial role in raising awareness about various issues, promoting mutual-recognition and strengthening relations between nations. By overcoming the geographic distance, Armenpress and the Vietnam News Agency will present stories which will reflect universal values of humanity, by promoting the spirit of unity and mutual respect. I express my gratitude to our dedicated staffs for being a part of this historic moment and for their tireless work towards bringing this initiative to life. Let our cooperation be productive, let our exchanges be bright, and let us work together for a stronger relationship for the benefit of our nations,” Narine Nazaryan concluded.

In turn, Vietnam News Agency Director-General Vu Viet Trang said in her speech that under the agreement, the two agencies will formally exchange information in various forms and implement other cooperation projects that align with the needs and capabilities of each side.

“I believe that today is a special day for the Vietnam News Agency and the Armenpress News Agency with the signing of the bilateral cooperation agreement between our two news agencies. The accord inked today helps VNA officially establish professional partnership with Armenpress. Under the agreement, the two agencies will formally exchange information in various forms and implement other cooperation projects that align with the needs and capabilities of each side. Together we will better perform our mission to introduce the country and peoples of Viet Nam and Armenia to the world, and cover events of mutual interest to the public in both countries as well as emerging issues in the region and the world. This collaboration will contribute to further enhancing mutual understanding between our two nations, promoting exchange activities and strengthening the longstanding friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Viet Nam and Armenia,” Director-General Vu Viet Trang said.

She added that VNA has been focusing on developing various types of multimedia products and making these products available on multiple platforms. Moreover, VNA is gradually incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) technology into the information production process to reduce manpower, costs and generate data journalism products from the abundant sources of information accumulated by the agency over nearly eight decades.

“We understand that Armenpress is robustly developing multimedia journalism products such as videos and podcasts. Therefore, VNA is eagerly looking forward to exchanging professional experiences with Armenpress during the course of carrying out our agreement. Armenpress, with its long tradition dating back to 1918, has undergone various stages of development and organizational restructuring. Thus, its experiences will be highly beneficial to VNA in the current digital transformation period. We believe that, through the information bridge, VNA and Armenpress, as reputable news agencies in each country, will help deepen the cooperative relationship between Viet Nam and Armenia in a more practical and effective manner, commensurate with the potential, strength and development space of both nations,” the VNA Director-General said.

Vietnam News Agency Director-General Vu Viet Trang thanked Armenian Ambassador to Viet Nam Vahram Kazhoyan and the Armenian Embassy in Viet Nam for promoting the partnership between the two news agencies.

Ambassador Kazhoyan also delivered a speech at the signing ceremony.

“Taking this opportunity, I would like to congratulate Armenpress and VNA on the signing of the Cooperation Agreement between Vietnam News Agency and Armenpress News Agency. I would also like to congratulate the peoples of Armenia and Viet Nam, who will have better, faster and high-quality information about each other’s countries, coming from such prestigious and trustworthy sources. Armenia and Viet Nam have had historical relations since the middle ages. However, the 20th century has become the true manifestation of our friendship, when Armenian people helped the Vietnamese people in their fights for independence and the reunification of Viet Nam. President Ho Chi Minh's historical visit to Armenia on July 21-23, 1959, marked a new era in our relations. But with the independence of Armenia in 1991 and opening of the Armenian Embassy in Hanoi, ten years ago, these very days opened a new beginning in the development of bilateral relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. I am sincerely glad that the meeting and the agreement I had four years ago, on October 31, 2019, with the former VNA General Director, Mr. Nguyen Duc Loi, regarding the signing of a cooperation agreement, has been successfully fulfilled today. It's true that COVID-19 brought its negative impact on the progress of this work but here we are today, with the signed Cooperation Agreement, and I would like to thank both parties for their dedicated work in achieving the today's result. I wish all of us productive cooperation,” the Ambassador said.

Vietnam News Agency (VNA) is the state news agency of Viet Nam founded on 15 September 1945. With more than 60 media products, VNA provides domestic and foreign media outlets with news in Vietnamese, Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Russian.

VNA is the largest news agency in Viet Nam and has representative offices in all 63 Vietnamese cities and provinces and 30 overseas bureaus across the five continents.

Armenpress is the largest and leading news agency in Armenia covering domestic, regional and international events. Armenpress was founded in 1918. The news agency publishes an average of 400 news reports daily in Armenian, English, Russian, Spanish, French, Arabic and Turkish. Armenpress has its very own correspondents stationed in Brussels, Washington D.C., New York City and Moscow. The Armenpress photo archive stores over 1,000,000 historic and rare photos dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. Armenpress cooperates with more than 30 leading media outlets around the world from Latin America to Africa, from Europe to Asia. The news agency has been actively developing its video and podcast department over the past few years. Armenpress has been a media sponsor of both local and international major conferences and events, such as 17th Summit of the International Organization of La Francophonie, STARMUS VI, Global Media Congress, Digital Almaty, AIM Congress and others.