LHASA - Media outlets in six Greater Mekong Sub-Region (GMS) countries are being urged to help report stories about Lancang-Mekong nations to foster cooperation in the area.
An awards ceremony for the “Lancang-Mekong Impression” Short Video Contest and a media exchange event were held recently in Lhasa, the main city in the Xizang Autonomous Region, also known as Tibet, in southwestern China.
Both events, organised by the China News Service (CNS), were attended by the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation China Secretariat, leaders from the Xizang Autonomous Region, officials from Lhasa as well as media representatives from Lancang-Mekong countries, experts, scholars and bloggers. About 200 people attended the events.
Anucha Charoenpo, vice-president of the Thai Journalists Association (TJA) and news editor of the Bangkok Post, spoke about the role of Thai media in disseminating information about the region to attract visitors.
“My newspaper, which is [part of the] mainstream media in Thailand, one of the Lancang-Mekong countries, can really help report the fascinating stories of Lancang-Mekong nations and foster cooperation among these countries,” he said.
Anucha Charoenpo, news editor of the Bangkok Post and vice-president of the Thai Journalists Association (TJA), speaks about the role of Thai media in disseminating information about the Lancang-Mekong region to attract visitors. He attended an award ceremony for the “Lancang-Mekong Impression” Short Video Contest in Lhasa in the Xizang Autonomous Region, also known as Tibet, organised by the China News Service.
The Bangkok Post has an editorial policy to report a wide range of news stories on the economy, politics, culture, education and tourism in the GMS countries China, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand, he said.
“We have extensively discussed GMS stories, trying to publish fascinating stories of the Lancang-Mekong countries on the front page almost every day,” he said. “We have also published stories and commentaries about the Lancang-Mekong countries on the Opinion-Analysis page, which is very popular among our readers.”
“On the international pages of the Bangkok Post, we also have an Asean page and Asia page that are used only for stories from Asean nations and GMS nations, including China,” he added.
Mr Anucha went on to say that Thailand is a key player in GMS tourism and that the Thai media, as well as state agencies, are working hard to promote tourism in the region.
Their goal is to increase the number of foreign tourists in the GMS region to over 95 million by 2025, he said, citing Thai government information.
The GMS programme was initiated with assistance from the Asian Development Bank in 1992 to promote the sub-regional cooperation of six countries: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China, specifically Yunnan province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The TJA has also signed the MoU on Media Cooperation and Media Exchange with partner associations in GMS countries, Mr Anucha said. Under the agreement, the TJA has worked closely with its counterparts for many years.
They include the All-China Journalists Association, the Club of Cambodian Journalists, the Lao Journalists Association, the Myanmar Journalists Association and the Vietnam Journalists Association, he said.
“Every year, we have media exchange programmes with these GMS countries. It is quite a successful cooperation,” he said. “In October, we just finished a programme in which Thai journalists visited Chongqing to learn about the city, its businesses and its people.”
During the media exchange event in Lhasa, media representatives from GMS countries were given information about Lhasa, Chamdo and other places in Tibet. They visited various locales where they learned about ecological protection, the livelihoods of people, industrial development, culture-tourism integration and preservation of traditional culture and religion.
Lhasa has been the religious and administrative capital of Tibet since the mid-17th century, containing Tibetan Buddhist sites such as the Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and Norbulingka Palaces.
The city is surrounded by high mountains with the Lhasa River running through its southern part.
Media representatives from the Greater Mekong Sub-Region gather near the Lancang River in Changdo, in the Xizang Autonomous Region in China, also known as Tibet. They were attending a media exchange programme organised by the China News Service. (Photo: CNS)