The meeting reviewed ASEAN’s media cooperation activities and discussed preparations for the 11th Conference of ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Information (AMRI 11) on the theme "Media: Connecting Peoples and Bridging Cultures towards One ASEAN Community" scheduled for March 1 in Kuala Lumpur.

In the context of ASEAN’s efforts to build an ASEAN community by 2015, the media plays an important role in raising public awareness and promoting the images of the ASEAN community in the region.

Senior information officials discussed the tasks of ASEAN media agencies to help realize plans for an ASEAN community with the three pillars, namely the ASEAN Political-Security Community, the ASEAN Economic Community and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.

They agreed on coordinated efforts to help people better understand the concept of the ASEAN community and promote the connectivity and friendship between member nations.

Speaking at the meeting, Duy Ngan Ha, Head of the Vietnamese delegation and the International Cooperation Department under the Ministry of Information and Communication, briefed SOMRI officials on communication activities in Vietnam.

She highlighted efforts to strengthen coordination among ASEAN media agencies, specifically AMRI, SOMRI and coordinating agencies in promoting communication activities.

As a coordinator for ASEAN-China relations, Vietnam dwelled on the initial results of cooperation in the framework of the ASEAN-China plan for information and communication technology (ICT) cooperation in the 2011-2015 period including the successful organization of the ASEAN-China media manager forum held in Beijing in 2010 and the ASEAN-China project in 2011 to exchange reporters, masters of ceremonies and TV progamme producers.

The meeting also discussed ICT cooperation between ASEAN and its partners, including the ASEAN-SOMRI+1 (China) and ASEAN-SOMRI+3 (Japan, China, the Republic of Korea) and preparations for AMRI 11 with these partners slated for March 1.