Bernama, VNA To Renew Collaboration, Expand News Sharing To Include Tourism

From Salawaty Supardi

MOSCOW, Sept 22 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) and Vietnam News Agency (VNA) are committed to elevating their longstanding partnership through expanded news and multimedia exchanges, with tourism and social media content among the key areas of focus.

The commitment was reaffirmed during a meeting between Bernama Chief Executive Officer Datin Paduka Nur-ul Afida Kamaludin and VNA General Director Vu Viet Trang on the sidelines of the 65th anniversary celebrations of the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) here on Monday.

Also present was Bernama Editor-in-Chief Arul Rajoo Durar Raj.

During the meeting, Nur-ul Afida proposed more videos, photographs, and news reports from VNA highlighting Vietnamese tourism destinations that are increasingly popular among Malaysians.

“It used to be Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, but now there are Da Nang, Sapa, Phu Quoc and many more. More Malaysians are going to Vietnam for their holidays,” she said.

She said VNA could leverage its correspondent in Malaysia to this end, and suggested packaging such content into brief travel capsules featuring places of interest in both countries.

Nur-ul Afida said with the ongoing Visit Malaysia 2026 campaign, VNA could produce engaging travel content for the Vietnamese audience.

Nur-ul Afida also expressed Bernama’s intention to temporarily place its personnel with VNA to expand its tourism coverage in Vietnam, where it does not yet have a correspondent. Vu, on her part, expressed interest in the idea, noting that VNA has a similar arrangement with South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.

Nur-ul Afida also welcomed VNA’s interest in using Bernama’s Arabic-language news service.

VNA's interest was conveyed by Vu, who cited confidence in Bernama's capabilities. The Vietnamese news agency publishes content in several languages, including Arabic, Spanish, English, and Russian.

Meanwhile, Arul Rajoo proposed a joint arrangement between Bernama, VNA, and the tourism authorities of both countries to explore and report on tourism. 

“Then maybe we can exchange stories,” he said.

He also proposed expanding the collaboration to reporting on the ASEAN Summit in Manila this November and technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).

Arul Rajoo proposed increasing news exchanges in anticipation of Vietnam's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and the 59th OANA executive board meeting (EBM) and technical committee meeting next year.

-- BERNAMA