The union minister said Myanmar, especially the Ministry of Information, was honoured to host the 19th SCI meeting. He warmly welcomed the ASEAN delegates and said it will further accelerate cooperation and promotion of ASEAN awareness in building the ASEAN identity and a sense of community.
The ASEAN declaration on Culture of Prevention for a peaceful, inclusive, resilient, healthy and harmonious society was adopted by ASEAN leaders at the 31st ASEAN Summit on 13 November 2017. In this regard, the union minister said development of programmes and dissemination of information on the benefits and opportunities offered by the ASEAN community must be encouraged, in addition to promotion of mutual respect and appreciation of diversity, in line with the ASEAN Strategic Plan for Information and Media (2016-2025).
A culture of media pluralism and socially responsible media in creating a peaceful, people-centered, dynamic and outward looking community, with the collaboration of government-to-government (G2G), government-to-business (G2B) and ASEAN dialogue partners, must be promoted, added the union minister.
Due to the rapid spread of social media, every country is concerned about fake news threatening the peace and stability of diverse communities, and thus programmes must be implemented to enhance media literacy, especially among the youth, to enable them to develop multimedia materials to promote cyber-wellness, said the union minister.
The union minister also expressed his confidence in the delegates’ views and recommendations that would invigorate and strengthen the information sector of ASEAN. He added that to achieve this, all member states need to support each other in implementing the respective national communication plans, as well as the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint 2025 and the ASEAN Strategic Plan for Information and Media 2016-2025. In conclusion, on behalf of the government and the people of Myanmar, the union minister thanked the ASEAN secretariat and the organising committee and all the delegates for ensuring the 19th ASEAN SCI meeting was a great success.