KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 (Bernama) -- The Gulf country Oman is so impressed with Malaysia's proposed Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) News Network (NNN) that it sees no reason why it cannot become a reality.
Oman's head to the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) of the Sixth Conference of the Ministers of Information of Non-Aligned Countries (Cominac VI) Osama Alharemi said that Malaysia's presentation of the proposal at today's meeting was very good and that all 114 NAM member countries should back Malaysia's efforts.
Osama who is Oman's Director of Studies and Mass Information Documentation in the Minister of Information Office said that the proposal was viable and that he did not see any difficulty for NAM countries to participate.
"I don't think so...the method of how NNN will work, as presented by Malaysia showed that it (NNN) is not a complicated one. It is simple, effective, viable, very fast and much more cheaper," he told Bernama on the sidelines of the SOM which took off at the Palace of Golden Horses hotel here, Saturday.
The proposed NNN would be an internet-based news exchange and distribution arrangement among the NAM countries.
Osama said the existing Non-Aligned News Agencies Pool (Nanap) was no longer effective and the methods used for the exchange of news were also not in tune with the present times and therefore it could not play its intended role.
"NNN is an ideal approach to exchange and distribute news for NAM... I think we have reached a point where we must have a certain effective system to disseminate news among us. NNN can deliver our (NAM countries) message and provide a balanced side to the world with more accuracy," he said.
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.
Osama said Oman through its news agency ONA, was willing to play a constructive role in helping Malaysia and others to achieve the necessary goals of the internet-based NNN as it would benefit all NAM member countries.
He said with access to internet, the disseminating of information and news was very possible, effective and cheaper in terms of cost and NAM countries could do their roles in NNN through their news agencies or their main source of news distribution.
He also felt that finance or funding should not be an issue at this stage as Malaysia has expressed its willingness to strongly back the NNN financially for a few years before it could stand on its own.
