Malaysia Hopes To Make AMRI Success And Ensure Programmes Implemented

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 (Bernama) -- Malaysia, as the current chair, hopes to make the 11th Conference of the Asean Ministers Responsible for Information (AMRI) a success, as well as to continue to ensure related programmes and projects are implemented in the spirit of Asean, with consultation and consensus. In his opening statement at the Senior Officials Meeting Responsible for Information (SOMRI) at a hotel here Tuesday, the Information, Communications and Culture Ministry's secretary-general Kamaruddin Siaraf said that SOMRI had to ensure that the programmes and projects agreed upon would help to increase awareness of Asean among the people of the region. He stressed that SOMRI must also help to communicate Asean's vision, mission, goals and aspirations to the citizens of the 10 member grouping. "And in doing so, make a tangible contribution to the ultimate goal of building a single Asean Community," said Kamaruddin who is also the chairperson of SOMRI after earlier taking over from outgoing chairman Thonglor Duangsavanh, the deputy director-general of Lao Press in the Foreign Language, Information, Culture and Tourism Ministry. Kamaruddin said that since its inception in 1989, SOMRI had carried out scores of projects revolving around media and information cooperation for the benefit of member states. He pointed out that to a large extent, these projects had been successful and had contributed to the improvements in many aspects of the media and information sector in Asean. As such, he said that discussions by senior officials on the various issues and programmes listed in the agenda over the next two days were vital and would lay the groundwork for future cooperation. "I would like to take this opportunity to remind my SOMRI colleagues that we need to scrutinise the proposals before us thoroughly and devise our strategy for the next two days," he said. AMRI and SOMRI are sectoral bodies under the Asean Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint and of the six main characteristics of the blueprint, the projects carried out under the auspices of SOMRI, fall within the parameters of the fifth characteristic which is building the Asean identity. The three-day conference carries the theme "Media: Connecting Peoples and Bridging Cultures towards One Asean Community". The Asean Community comprises three pillars, namely the Asean Political-Security Community, the Asean Economic Community and the Asean Socio-Cultural Community. The Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture of Malaysia, under the helm of its Minister Dr Rais Yatim, is hosting the 11th AMRI until March 1. The 10-member Asean, with a combined population of some 600 million, comprises Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. -- BERNAMA