ASEAN & CHINA TAKE IMPORTANT STEP FORWARD IN INFORMATION COOPERATION

From Yong Soo Heong
NANNING (Guangxi, China), Oct 18 (Bernama) -- Asean and China recently took an important step forward to collaborate in the information and media sector, an area which had taken the back seat when compared with the progress that has been forged between the two entities in such areas as politics and economic development.

But an important milestone has been reached, especially with the signing of
the memorandum of understanding (MoU) to further promote co-operation in the
information and media sector.

Malaysia's Information Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek, who represented
Malaysia at the Asean+China Ministers Responsible for Information Conference
here, said it was their duty to further accelerate the pace of development by
narrowing the information gap.

"We need to have more bridges and stay connected through a freer flow of
information," he said.

As it stands, the MoU serves to formalise the initiatives that had been
taken so far and puts into effect a mechanism for further footprints on new
initiatives.

And as far as Malaysia is concerned, the conference has served its
usefulness by enabling it to explore new areas of co-operation. Ahmad Shabery,
in his bilateral meetings with his counterparts from China, Singapore and
Vietnam, has been able to forge new areas of collaboration.

In the case of Malaysia's national broadcasting corporation, Radio
Television Malaysia (RTM), the production of weekly business TV news bulletins
with foreign TV stations brings about exciting prospects for the government-run
TV station.

For Bernama, another institution under his ministry, the areas of further
collaboration will be in news exchange and training of journalists to augment
the Malaysian national news agency's reach and capability.

Brunei, the current facilitator for the Asean TV news exchange, says it
will be happy to extend its role to encompass an Asean-China TV news exchange if
it came to fruition.

Its Minister of Energy, Pehin Mohammad Daud, was of the view that these
actions will serve to enhance the voice and perspectives of Asia on the
international stage.

Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, Myanmar's Minister of Information, said major powers
were still bullying smaller nations by taking advantage of the media.

Hence, he is full of support of the establishment of the NAM News Network
(NNN), a news network set up by member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement
(NAM) to disseminate news from Third World countries.

NNN was constituted at the initiative of Malaysia but in concurrence with
the decision taken by the Sixth Conference of Ministers of Information of
Non-Aligned Countries (COMINAC VI) in 2005.

NNN (http://www.namnewsnetwork.org) is being run by Bernama with the
co-operation of other news agencies, and China's Xinhua news agency ranks among
its most active news contributors.

In the case of Singapore, it has already undertaken a number of initiatives
with China. For instance, it has already set up the China-Singapore Institute of
Digital Media in Singapore with the Institute of Automation under the Chinese
Academy of Sciences to develop large-scale language interactive technologies
while MediaCorp has teamed up with Zhejiang TV to co-produce a TV drama series.

Its Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Dr Lee Boon
Yang, sees the MoU as the blueprint for further Asean-China cooperation, which
will serve as a powerful catalyst and create even more opportunities for
collaboration.

For Ahmad Shabery, he believes in stressing on the plus factors of Asean
regionalism and the need to stick together in the face of adversity.

Saying that a level-headed approach was the best way to ensure regional
resilience, he said member states should stress on the positives and look ahead
to the future.

And in Malaysia's case, he said, it "wants to work with the best creative
minds in the information and media industries of Asean and China to take these
industries to greater heights."
-- BERNAMA