Malaysia suggests establishing ASEAN News Agency
VOV.VN -Malaysian Minister of Communications and Multimedia Salleh Said Keruak proposed erecting a news agency of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the first ASEAN Editors Summit taking place in Kuala Lumpur April 5-6.
The Summit consists of four sessions with 20 distinguished speakers presenting the media perspectives connected with the regional grouping.
 |
| Speakers at the event |
The event is in the wake of the successful organisation of the ASEAN Summit 2015 in Kuala Lumpur and the formal establishment of the ASEAN Community with the purpose of providing a good opportunity for regional media practitioners to share experiences and discuss current issues faced by the media industry.
Addressing the opening ceremony, Malaysian Minister of Communications and Multimedia Salleh Said Keruak said efforts must be galvanized to ensure that the people’s agenda be highlighted so as to tell the ASEAN story.
 |
| Malaysian Minister of Communications and Multimedia Salleh Said Keruak |
“ASEAN’s planned integration has also challenged its people to embrace a regional identity, or more specifically an ASEAN identity. The new media plays a major role in bringing ASEAN ideals to the people," the Minister said.
In this regard, he also proposed setting up an ASEAN News Agency, which he said could play a significant role in strengthening ASEAN cooperation on many fronts.
In his earlier welcoming remarks, Datuk Zulkefli Salleh General Manager of Malaysian National News Agency BERNAMA said there are approximately 1,500 media organisations in various languages across the ASEAN region.
But despite the 48-year-old ASEAN achieving various successes in economic, social and political areas as the region created the long-awaited single community at the end of 2015, the media fraternity are actually lagging behind in the regional integration process.
Therefore, the relationship among media organisations in the ASEAN region should always be cultivated to ensure they share stories that is happening in their own perspective and which takes into account the local sensitivity, he said.
The two-day event attracted a large number of Malaysian leaders involved in the media industry together with more than 100 editors from ASEAN countries, which include representatives of media agencies.
