Somri Identifies More Than 20 Projects With Dialogue Partners

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 29 (Bernama) -- The Asean Senior Officials Meeting Responsible for Information (SOMRI) has identified more than 20 projects for implementation with its dialogue partners -- China, South Korea and Japan -- in the 2012-2017 Work Plan. The secretary-general of the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture, Kamaruddin Siaraf, who chaired the meeting, said among the projects was an exchange programme for media practitioners from Asean member countries to undergo training in the countries of the dialogue partners. "At this meeting, we will adopt a Work Plan between the Dialogue Partners and Asean which seems to receive a good response. We have already considered the projects offered and the coordinating country had already been identified, and we will also consider the method of financing for the dialogue partners," he told reporters outside the meeting at a hotel, here. He said the media exchange would involve both the public and private sectors from the Asean member countries as well as the three dialogue partners. The Asean-SOMRI+3 meeting aims to review and discuss various projects that had been implemented previously and this year. The meeting Wednesday was a preparation for the 11th Meeting of Asean Ministers Responsible for Information (AMRI) Thursday. Kamaruddin said the 11th AMRI Meeting Thursday was expected to approve the Work Plan whose implementation had been rescheduled for the year 2012 until 2017. The five-year Work Plan had previously been planned for implementation in the year 2010 until 2015. "At the meeting in Vientienne, Laos two years ago, we could not implement this due to a slight problem and 'insya-Allah' (God Willing) at the meeting this time, we can forward it (the work plan) for endorsement by the ministers and we can straight away implement it," he said. Meanwhile, speaking after the conclusion of the meeting, Kamaruddin said SOMRI would also suggest to the AMRI and AMRI+3 that the cooperation at the senior officials level be brought down to the technical committee stage in every member country. "This way, the projects and programmes to be implemented can be scrutinised by the technical committee, and if this suggestion is agreed upon by AMRI and AMRI+3, the implementation of these projects can run smoothly in future," he said. The three-day meeting 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. Each pillar has its own action plan and together with the Initiative for Asean Integration (IAI), the Strategic Framework and IAI Work Plan Phase II (2009-2015), it will form an action plan for the Asean Community 2009-2015. The 10-member regional grouping, with a combined population of some 600 million, comprises Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. -- BERNAMA