“Impressive, methodical, and professional” were the words used by the media representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam after VIR was selected to jointly organise the forum “Finance and Governance Accelerators for a Just Energy Transition” in July.

The forum was held during a visit to Vietnam by Kanni Wignaraja, UN assistant secretary general and UNDP regional director for Asia-Pacific. Despite her busy schedule, Wignaraja gave an important speech at the forum, highlighting Vietnam’s socioeconomic development achievements and committing that the UNDP will continue to support Vietnam’s transition to clean energy.

The UNDP media representative said, “We highly appreciate the organisation of this forum by VIR. The newspaper’s prestige is increasing thanks to the strong transformation with new products, and everything has gone smoothly in terms of logistics, sound, lighting, and choice of hosts.”

Many business associations and investors appreciate newspapers like VIR when trying to boost activities in Vietnam

During 31 years of development, VIR has been highly appreciated by its management body of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as well as other ministries and agencies such as the Central Economic Commission, Government Office, Office of the National Assembly, and the State Bank of Vietnam.

They have welcomed the efforts of VIR in selecting, analysing, and objectively featuring information and policies of ministries and sectors in printed and online newspapers, special publications, and events.

In particular, VIR has accompanied businesses and investors by effectively conveying the voice of the business community.

Living in Vietnam for more than 20 years, Hong Sun, vice chairman of the Korea Chamber of Business in Vietnam (KorCham) can speak and read both Vietnamese and English fluently. Sun habitually reads newspapers every day.

“VIR provides me with exact information about the Vietnamese market and where my projects are going well. In addition, I am also interested in macroeconomic information on the newspaper as it has big impacts on investors’ decisions,” Sun said.

“VIR conveys new government policies and recommendations of businesses and investors, including members of KorCham. Specifically, it offers a platform for the voices of investors and regulators through the direct and successful organisation of events.”

From strength to strength

The UNDP energy forum in July was just one of many events that VIR has held over the decades. It has successfully organised many events including the M&A Forum, the Listed Companies’ Annual Report wards, charity golf tournament Swing for the Kids, a dialogue with legendary investor Marc Faber, the Forum on Foreign Direct Investment, a consumer finance forum, and many other seminars covering different topics.

With the new orientation that the newspaper must develop stronger and become more distinct with high-quality products, VIR has made big efforts in self-innovation to serve the needs of readers, with a focus on improving the content and appearance of print and online publications and the way events are organised.

This year, with the construction of a modern studio, the newspaper has broadcast a batch of talk shows and expanded the content of seminars, workshops, and conferences on many fields based on livestreaming. This is a new step in the newspaper’s activities, although it remains in the early stages.

“Unlike many other press agencies, VIR’s spacious headquarters are used to organise key events for businesses and investors,” said Sun. “I have attended two events there, and I appreciate the great efforts on organisation. I find this new way of doing things is quite methodical and can help me personally, as well as businesses.”

Other entrepreneurs have offered similar sentiments after directly participating in events conducted by VIR.

Having been a guest for a talk show on digital transformation in June, TH Milk CEO Arghya Mandal appreciated the advantages it brought for him and his business.

“Thanks to the talk show, I have had the opportunity to talk a lot about what we and other businesses in the high-tech agriculture industry are contributing to society,” Mandal said. “VIR is very professional, and I only regret that the event did not last longer so that more information could be exchanged.”

The reputation that VIR has been gaining thus far with the new talk show format meant that participating was not a difficult decision for Mandal. “As soon as I received the invitation, I immediately agreed and booked an air ticket so that I could fly from the central province of Nghe An – where our farm and dairy processing factory worth $1.2 billion are located – to Hanoi to participate in the event.”

The comments of professionals like Sun and Mandal are reflecting the success of the newspaper, and they are a part of major new orientations that VIR’s Editorial Board is looking forward.

Striving for success

Since the beginning of this year, VIR has expanded its activities with a number of new products based around talk shows, seminars, and conferences.

Some of the highlights thus far include events on innovative solutions for single-use plastic towards green consumption, managing investments in a flexible environment, innovative funds for blockchain startups, smart factories in Vietnam, and the rise of new destinations and service experiences.

Most recently, on September 8, VIR collaborated with Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. of Japan to hold a seminar on the oil price outlook and sharing experiences for sustainable development. The event saw the participation of a large number of Vietnamese and Japanese businesses, as well as many experts.

Kenya Maeda, senior executive officer for Integrated Supply, Trading Crude, and Global Business at Idemitsu Kosan, flew from Japan to Hanoi the day before the seminar and displayed delight that he did so, explaining his satisfaction with the ideas, methods, logistics, and professionalism of the event organisation.

“We are happy that the event has become a success,” said Maeda.

As a result of the seminar’s success, it is expected that both sides will continue to coordinate in holding other cooperation programmes in the coming time.

Having attended an event organised by VIR, Dao Thu Trang, a representative of the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Vietnam, said that she highly appreciates the renovation of the newspaper through the organisation of events, with the application of live broadcasting methods through platforms such as Facebook.

“This is a very good information channel for businesses, policy makers, and experts. For the foreign business community in Vietnam, VIR is an essential newspaper that is open to proposals from the business community,” Trang said. “I hope that VIR will continue to be an effective multimedia channel that connects businesses and state agencies.”

VIR has also boldly produced talk shows utilising foreign elements, with the use of languages such as English and Japanese. The newspaper’s reporters and editors have also tried their hand at new roles such as moderating the events themselves.

The UNDP media representative said that efforts like these have been impressive. “The productions have helped mobilise and connect many businesses to discuss at the same issue. VIR has created a forum with many different topics and ways of expression. As they are also broadcast live on online platforms, the interaction between speakers and listeners is of a high standard, creating a very good effect in communication,” she said.

With the aspiration of creating values and making breakthroughs, and with the existing strength and great advantages of the newspaper’s leaders, reporters, and editors, VIR aims to persistently improve its technical skills and image further so that it will become even stronger, through many more quality articles and events.