Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh has hailed therole of the mass media in carrying out the Party and State’s policy onexternal relations in 2014.

At a meeting with themedia on February 5 on the occasion of the upcoming Lunar New Year, theDeputy PM thanked media agencies and journalists for their timelycoverage of the government’s external activities as well as the ForeignMinistry’s response to the latest developments in the world situation.

He stressed that external relations have contributedgreatly to safeguarding the national sovereignty and independence,while helping the country integrate deeper into the world economy andenabling it to make active contributions to regional and global securityand development issues.

Last year saw Vietnamstrengthen its friendship and effective cooperation with neighbouringand regional countries as well as with major powers and traditionalfriends in the world, the Deputy PM said, adding that trade andinvestment ties with most partners have also been intensified along withstronger political-diplomatic and national defence-security cooperationwith most countries.

Deputy PM Minh noted that theworld economic situation is expected to see great changes this yearwith potential impacts on Vietnam’s economic development and security.Therefore, the tasks will be heavy for the external relation sector, hesaid, calling on the domestic media agencies to continue coordinatingclosely with the Foreign Ministry.

On behalf ofmedia agencies, General Director of the Vietnam News Agency Nguyen DucLoi affirmed that the media will always work closely with the diplomaticsector. He suggested that the Foreign Ministry continue to collaboratewith the media to promote information popularisation to serve externalrelations.-VNA