Media Assess ASEM Challenges
By Asian Othman in Helsinki

Bandar Seri Begawan - Senior Asian and European editors collectively assessed the achievements and challenges faced by Asia-Europe after 10 years of ASEM.

On the occasion of the ASEM Summit in Helsinki, some 30 European and Asian senior editors - including those from Brunei Darussalam - held a one-day roundtable on Saturday, September 9.

This roundtable was held a day prior to the ASEM Summit (from Sept 10 - 11) with the cooperation of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.

The event provides a platform for interaction and dialogue among senior journalists from the two regions and also offers opportunities to meet with key ASEM leaders and officials.

The editors held a breakfast meeting with Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barosso, and later a lunch meeting with Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs Erkki Tuomioja, for a discussion on `Universal Values and Best Practices of Journalism.'

The editors heard briefings on the key pre-occupations and outcomes of the ASEM meetings.

The morning session dealt with a political agenda - 'Dialogue among Cultures and Civilisations - Need for Society Responsible Journalism.

Meanwhile, the afternoon session addressed the economic agenda -'Shared Responsibility in Sustainable Development and Resource Management-Promoting Asia Europe Partnership.

The roundtable series aimed at enriching the exchange of ideas and opinions among media organisations fromAsia and Europe, and also to create and strengthen links between Asian and European journalistic networks through closer personal interaction.

The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) organised the 1997 ASEF meeting of editors in Luxembourg, which carried the theme `Building Bridges with Images.

Meanwhile, the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) presented a study on `Asia Reporting Europe and Europe Reporting Asia,' assessing how much Asian news was reported in the European media and vice versa.

Seoul hosted the editors' roundtable in 2000 - in collaboration with the Korea Press Foundation - as part of the ASEF programmes of events for the 3rd ASEM Summit.

These events also helped to produce additional news coverage for the ASEM meetings.

ASEM - a cooperation forum for Asian and European countries - was initiated to strengthen dialogue and interaction between the two regions, based on equal partnership. The inaugural ASEM Summit was held in Bangkok in 1996.

ASEM offers leaders of Asian and European countries a forum for the exchange of views and cooperation.

In addition to political dialogue, sustainable economic and social developments are promoted through concrete initiatives. The strength of ASEM lies in its multidimensional character. The cooperation takes place under three pillars - political, economic and cultural. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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