ASEF Editors’ Roundtable begins today

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On July 7, the 8th ASEF Editors’ Roundtable Meeting, one of the side events of the ASEM11 Summit, opened with around 30 media delegates from more than 20 ASEM member countries at the Best Western Premier Tuushin Hotel. The meeting is being organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) in cooperation with the Confederation of Mongolian Journalists. The opening ceremony was attended by Ambassador Zhang Yang, Executive Director of ASEF, L.Purevsuren, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Torben Stephan, Director of Media Programme Asia at KAS. In his opening remarks, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia L.Purevsuren said Mongolia is a country respecting freedom of press and expression. With greater penetration of information technologies in our life, we have turned even more dependent on them. Mongolia has become one of the countries in the region that are leading by the use of digital technology and internet per capita. With a population of three million, Mongolia records 3.2 million cell phone and 3.1 million data users. By now, all mobile phone operators of Mongolia have shifted to 4G system. There are 2.4 million people in Mongolia who use internet on regular basis. Cable and IPTV are available in rural areas as well. Technological progress makes people closer. However, we need to think over how to manage the information flow in right way. Addressing the meeting, Torben Stephan said, “Today, we talk about digital connectivity which is a very important topic. The media environment is changing very fast because of the internet and especially mobile usage which is growing very fast. Of course, there are good and bad developments in that, and my message for today is that let us see this as a chance for the media, not a threat”. The agenda of the meeting covers Asia-Europe Digital Connectivity Survey, the relevance and role of media as a major stakeholder, global stories through local stories, opportunities for connectivity, new audiences and ways to improve Asia-Europe Social Discussion under the theme ‘Asia-Europe Digital Connectivity’. The meeting is being attended by reputed media figures such as BBC delegate Adrian Van Klaveren, Joao Palmeiro, President of the Portuguese Press Association, Gie Goris, Editor-in-Chief of the Belgian Mondiaal News, Yury Kruchkin, Editor-in-Chief of the Russian magazine ‘Mongolia Today’, Wu Ting, Managing Director of the Chinese ‘The paper.cn’, as well as editors-in-chief, senior journalists and overseas special correspondents from the ROK, Singapore, Vietnam, Ireland, Poland, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, and India.