Greater Mekong Sub-region media exchange visits launched in China

Regular exchange visits between media organizations from China and the other five countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) were launched in southwest China on Wednesday. Press officers and journalists with the media organizations of the GMS countries took part in the launch ceremony in Kunming, provincial capital of Yunnan. While addressing the ceremony, Wang Guoqing, deputy director of China's State Council Information Office, said the news media organizations of the GMS countries have played an irreplaceable and important role and made positive contributions in enhancing mutual knowledge and understanding between sub-regional countries and peoples, as well as in promoting cooperation between regions and countries. It is necessary to further strengthen sub-regional cooperation and the role of news media of GMS countries, Wang said. The exchanges are aimed at establishing regular visits among the media organizations of China and the other five GMS countries -- Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. Through regular exchanges of reporters, the fixed mechanism is expected to create a favorable public opinion environment for the promotion of sub-regional cooperation, according to Wang. Zhao Jin, a senior publicity official of Yunnan, said at the ceremony that exchanges and cooperation between China and other GMS countries have developed rapidly and scored remarkable achievements in various fields since the GMS economic mechanism was established in 1992. Under the GMS cooperation mechanism, the regular exchange visits between China and other GMS countries will establish a new platform for media communication, Zhao said. U Peik Htway, deputy minister of the Ministry of Information, Myanmar, said the media exchanges will strengthen the goodwill, mutual understanding and friendship among GMS countries. "The Legendary Music," a TV series co-produced by the Yunnan TV Station and the Ministry of Information, Myanmar, which was based on a historical story dating back to the Tang Dynasty in China and the Pyu Era in Myanmar, will debut in both countries soon, he added. The GMS is a natural economic area bound together by the Mekong River. It covers 2.6 million square kilometers and is home to around 326 million people.