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The Meeting of Experts on the establishment of SAARC Media Development (SMD) Fund began here today. Inaugurating it, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Shri Navin B. Chawla said that the meeting is a bench mark as the SAARC countries cannot afford to miss the fast paced developments in the field of media, which the proposed Fund aims to address. Shri Chawla said that SAARC countries have strong commonalities and in the field of media development, the countries can surge ahead as a community, since media can be a powerful instrument in highlighting the development issues of member countries. He said that the Fund is necessary to ensure that news gathering, reporting and other media related activities in the region do not suffer on account of lack of funds. The development of media would provide an opportunity to open our windows to the world. The Secretary said that the cooperation in the field of media is of particular importance at this juncture when the leadership in the region has shown commitment for enhanced cooperation and understanding among the member countries. The SMD Fund will promote the SAARC ideals within and outside the region and would improve the quality and contents of developmental news production in the print as well as electronic media of the member countries, he added.
The Chairman, SAARC Editors & Working Journalists Conference, Dr. Shakuntala Mahawal, PIO in her address expressed the hope that the Experts’ Group would crystallize the modalities related to the creation of the SMD Fund so that member countries can move further ahead in achieving the desired goals in respect of promotion of media and related activities in the region. She said that the proposed Fund would strengthen our developmental communication networks to produce world-class communication material.
Shri P. B. Shah, Director SAARC Secretariat, in his opening remarks said that the idea of SMD Fund was mooted with a view to ensure smooth functioning of media among SAARC countries and to facilitate the media in the region in reporting developmental and other activities in the region.
The members unanimously elected the India representative Shri Akshay Kumar, Director (PR) in PIB as Chairman for the Expert Group Meeting.
The representatives from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and the SAARC Secretariat are participating. The second Conference of the Editors and Working Journalists of SAARC countries at its meeting in October, 2004 had recommended the setting up of an Expert Group to finalize the modalities related to the creation and operation of the SMD Fund, which was felt to be an integral part to promote media related activities and greater cooperation among media in the member countries.
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