Inside one of the two conference rooms at Vietnam's first press center in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

City authorities inaugurated the press center on Sunday in the fifth and sixth floors of a building at 255 Tran Hung Dao Street, District 1.

It has a large press conference room with a capacity of 100 people, a smaller one for 50 people, an exchange room, a cabin for translators, and a workplace equipped with high-speed Internet connection.

At the inauguration, city Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong said the center's opening is a landmark in the development of the Vietnamese media.

The city would facilitate the media’s unlimited access to accurate information quickly, he said.

Journalists would be able to broach any subjects with the city authorities, he promised.

He called on the police and other administrative agencies to be tough on all obstruction and threats to journalists performing their duties, and instructed districts to provide all information demanded by the media.

"The results of official inspections will be publicized at the press center."

Tu Luong, deputy director of HCMC Department of Information and Communications, has been appointed the center's director for the next five years.

The center will remain open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day except Sunday.

VNF ( Vnexpress )