Coming to Vietnam nearly a week prior to the second DPRK-USA summit, Lee Jeong-ho, a reporter from Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post spoke highly of the working facilities at the IMC.
“The food is really nice, a variety of foods, all drinks and foods are provided for free. The Internet is very fast. I am really impressed,” Lee told the Vietnam News Agency (VNA).
Sharing this view, Bhavan Jaipragas, Asia Correspondent at the South China Morning Post, who once covered the first DPRK-USA Summit in Singapore, said: “It’s really comparable to Singapore. Vietnam is able to match up to Singapore, even better.”
“The internet is very fast. It’s very important because we have to deliver information back to the head office in Hong Kong before broadcasting it to the world,” Jaipragas said.
Located at the Friendship Culture Palace in downtown Hanoi, the IMC is capable of hosting more than 3,000 reporters at the same time. According to Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung, the organisers set up the IMC at the Friendship Culture Palace in order to facilitate journalists’ operations despite higher expenses as compared with other sites.
The centre is equipped with full modern facilities to serve reporters’ operations, such as photocopiers, broadband and wireless internet networks, electric systems, telecoms infrastructure and large screens to convey live signals from major events.
The organizers also installed as many as 30 2G, 3G and 4G stations at the IMC and hired 14 satellite television channels for international broadcasters to live broadcast from the centre.
Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said the wifi speed at the IMC is ensured at 5MGb/s at the lowest while the speed for international connection is 3MGb/s at minimum. In addition, almost 1,500 internet-connected points were installed with a minimum speed of 20MGb/s.
During the working days for the summit, all reporters are also provided with free public transportation and taxi pickups at the IMC and the nearby Hanoi Railway Station.
Furthermore, free meals are offered to reporters working at the IMC with a variety of foods, including traditional Vietnamese dishes such as nem ran (fried rolls), pho (noodles with beef), bun cha (Vermicelli noodles with grilled pork).
Highlighting Vietnam’s preparation work for the summit in a much shorter time than Singapore, Alberto Salazar, a correspondent at the Hanoi bureau of Cuba’s Prensa Latina News Agency, highly appreciated all conditions that the host country has provided for reporters.
“Vietnam should be proud of all good conditions they provide. Security, international media centre, and food. Everything is very good,” said Alberto.
“I have worked in Vietnam for two years and tried many Vietnamese foods. It is really good for people who come to Vietnam for the first time to have opportunities to taste Vietnamese food right at the media centre,” he added.
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| Foreign reporters are working at the International Media Centre (Source: VNA) |
