KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's effort to set up the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) News Network (NNN) is close to reality after receiving unanimous support from senior officials preparing for the Sixth Conference of the Ministers of Information of Non-Aligned Countries (COMINAC VI) here.
Information Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Siti Balkish Mohamed Shariff said there were no objections from any of the 73 countries represented at the two-day Senior Officials Meeting which began today. The ministerial meeting will be held on Monday and Tuesday.
Siti Balkish said the delegates did not want to see NNN fail like the Non-Aligned News Agencies Pool (Nanap).
Nanap was set up by the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1976 to generate the distribution of news reports, features and photographs among member countries but has since become dormant with the advent of sophisticated technology in the distribution of news and photographs.
Siti Balkish said many details had to be fine-tuned so that NNN could move effectively and benefit all the NAM members.
"In setting up NNN, the delegates want us to look at the problems and why Nanap did not succeed," she told Bernama after the first SOM session.
The proposed NNN is an Internet-based news exchange centre aimed at presenting accurate news on NAM and not biased news as portrayed by the western media.
Siti Balkish said the morning session was lively with all the delegates participating and making various proposals.
Another item on the agenda which received approval from the senior officials was the proposal to review the Broadcasting Organisations of the Non-Alligned Countries (Bonac) and the status of the Inter-Governmental Council.
Malaysia has proposed that Bonac be revitalised.
Siti Balkish said the delegates also discussed problems like the lack of Internet facilities, computers and broadcasting channels, especially in the poor countries.
The information savvy countries were urged to help the backward and less capable ones.
Meanwhile, Bahrain, one of the countries supporting the Malaysian proposal, cautioned that the NNN should not confront but complement the international news agencies in the dissemination of information.
Its Assistant Under-Secretary for Foreign Media, Khalifa bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa said that this was because the world was now talking in one voice to combat terrorism and issues concerning globalisation and free trade.
"We are not trying to set up an organisation to face the west, but to work with them. We are not competing but we are complementing each other because we have certain common issues to deal with," he told Bernama.
The SOM continues on Sunday.
