NAM News Network up soon
Malaysia will start the ball rolling on the proposed Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) News
Network (NNN) by organizing a workshop within the next three months.
Information Ministry secretary-general Datuk Siti Balkish
Mohamed Shariff said that interested NAM members would be invited for
the discussions to find ways to establish a practical and workable mechanism
for the NNN.
“The most important thing is for the project to start. We
plan that when the NAM summit convenes next year, we will be able to report that the NNN is moving.
That is our objective,” she told reporters yesterday after chairing the two-day
Senior Officials Meeting which ended here in the run-up to the Sixth Conference
of the Ministers of Information of Non-Aligned Countries (Cominac VI) beginning
today.
The proposed NNN is an Internet-based news exchange aimed at
presenting accurate news on NAM.
Siti Balkish said the NNN initiative had received good
response, with the senior officials expressing hope that it would be sustained
and become comparable to other international news networks. Bernama has been
entrusted with the project, she said.
The proposal for the time being was for the NNN to be
headquartered in Kuala Lumpur,
she added. Siti Balkish declined to reveal the budget for the project
but said: “Malaysia is going to foot the bill, commit the personnel as we want to start this project
on the right footing.” The cabinet has approved a financial allocation for Malaysia’s
proposal to set up the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) News Network, Information
Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir said Thursday.
The proposal will be tabled at the Sixth Conference of the Ministers of
Information of Non-Aligned Countries (Cominac VI) to be held here on Nov 19-22. He said the government was even prepared to fund the network
for a few years before it could stand on its own.
"If the idea is endorsed by the Cominac VI, we hope to
get the network moving by early next year," he said in an interview with
Bernama.
Abdul Kadir described the set up of the network, which would
work along the lines of major news agencies like Reuters and Agence
France-Presse (AFP) but with news written "through the eyes of NAM",
as a pertinent agenda of Cominac VI. He said the idea had long been discussed by NAM which was
unhappy with the imbalanced reporting by the international media against third
world countries. "We are determined this time to see the idea going
through and go the extra mile by giving the financial allocation…not just
talk shop," he said.
He said that should the news network idea materialise, it
would be one of the most significant contributions by Malaysia during its tenure as NAM chairman.
The minister also hoped that Cominac VI would be able to
further address issues relating to the information communication field,
especially in narrowing the digital divide within and between
NAM member
countries.
This situation needed to be corrected although providing the
infrastructure for ICT was very expensive while many countries were still
thinking of survival and famine, he said.
"But if we can agree to the news network, it will go a
long way in addressing the issue," he added. On the response to Cominac VI, Abdul Kadir was happy that
"a good number" of NAM countries had confirmed their participation.
As of today, 64 countries have stated that they would be coming,
with 45 on a full ministerial level, including two from observer countries, and
seven vice-ministers while the rest will be sending officials. NAM has 114
members.
Source - BERNAMA
I am proud to be Malaysians. May this efforts will strengthen
the relationship between Malaysia and the rest of the world. MALAYSIAN 4 PEACE
