BRICS Media Summit: Union Minister of Information supports media cooperation

With the theme "The Role of the BRICS Media Community in Strengthening Stability and Cooperation in a Multipolar World", the BRICS Media Summit 2024 is being held from 13th to 17th of September, at the Great Hall of the World Trade Centre (WTC) Hotel in Moscow.

The event was attended by the heads of leading BRICS media entities, as well as media outlets from countries that have expressed interest in expanding cooperation with the group. Myanmar delegation led by Union Minister for Information U Maung Maung Ohn attended the summit, together with the participants from more than 40 countries.

Prior to the Opening Session, the BRICS Media Photo Gallery was inaugurated. During the opening session, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sent a video message, followed by the speeches of the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister.

Head of Xinhua News Agency, officials from the Russian Ministries and representatives from OIC. The plenary session then followed and Union Minister of Information U Maung Maung Ohn made a speech, highlighting the enormous power media that can impact political, economic and social aspects of the world nations.

He stressed that the media penetration can strengthen friendly ties among world nations but in contrast fake news and disinformation could greatly endanger stability and create unrest. Emphasizing the fact that fake news and disinformation is greatly hampering peace and stability, progress and development of a country, the Union Minister stressed Myanmar’s efforts to counter the fake news with the distribution of true news.

He added that BRICS Media Summit has been holding with great essence to keep up with the changing world withshifting of power structure from Unipolarity to Multipolarity. The Union Minister expressed his belief that the BRICS Media Summit could open the door for positive developments as the world nations can see and hear the true situations of developing countries, and pledged Myanmar’s active cooperation for media development with many world nations.

The panel sessions focused on the role of the BRICS media community in bolstering stability and cooperation in a multipolar world, as well as technological aspects of information collaboration between BRICS countries. During the summit, the Union Minister met with the various Russian News Agencies and China’s CGTN News Agency.

During these meetings, the Union Minister discussed friendly relations between Russia and Myanmar and cooperation for media development as well as explained the true situation of Myanmar and crucial role of BRICS. In the evening, the delegation attended the cultural performance to mark the 120th anniversary of TASS News Agency and enjoyed the Russia traditional performance.

On the 15th, the delegation participated in the second day of the Media Summit, where the participants made roundtable discussions on “BRICS Media: Technological Transformation on the Path to a New World”. During the afternoon session, the participated adopted the Final Declaration of the summit, followed by the closing session. At night, a dinner was hosted to the delegates to the BRICS Media Summit.

To increase cooperation on political and economic issues, BRIC was founded in 2009 with the world economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. So far, the intergovernmental organization has 9 member states with the addition of South Africa in 2010 and later Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates in 2024.

The Roscongress Foundation managed the events of Russia’s BRICS Chairmanship and it was organized by the Russian News Agency TASS.