More media coverage of Mekong region urged

The event is interested in hearing local journalists ‘ opinions on how to promote Lancang-Mekong nations to visitors.

The Potala Palace in Lhasa, capital of the Xizang Autonomous Region in China, also known as Tibet, was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959. It is now a museum and has been inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage List since 1994. The palace is open for tourists to visit. (Photo: Anucha Charoenpo)
The Potala Palace in Lhasa, money of the Xizang Autonomous Region in China, also known as Tibet, was the autumn house of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959. It is now a gallery, and it has been listed as a Unesco World Heritage List since 1994. Tourists are welcome to visit the house. ( Photo: Anucha Charoenpo )

LHASA- Media outlets in six Greater Mekong Sub-Region ( GMS ) nations are being urged to contribute to reporting on Lancang-Mekong stories to promote cooperation there.

An honors ceremony for the” Lancang-Mekong Effect” Short Video Contest and a media trade event were held late in Lhasa, the main town in the Xizang Autonomous Region, also known as Tibet, in southern China.

Both events, organised by the China News Service ( CNS), were attended by the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation China Secretariat, leaders from the Xizang Autonomous Region, officials from Lhasa as well as media representatives from Lancang-Mekong countries, experts, researchers and bloggers. About 200 citizens attended the events.

Anucha Charoenpo, vice president of the Thai Journalists Association ( TJA ) and Bangkok Post news editor, discussed the importance of the Thai media in distributing information to draw in visitors.

” My news, which is]part of the] popular media in Thailand, one of the Lancang-Mekong places, can really help report the amazing stories of Lancang-Mekong governments and foster teamwork among these places”, he said.

Anucha Charoenpo, news editor of the Bangkok Post and vice president of the Thai Journalists Association ( TJA), represents the Thai media side to speak about the role of Thai media in disseminating information about the Lancang-Mekong region to attract visitors. (Photo: Anucha Charoenpo)

Anucha Charoenpo, news editor of the&nbsp, Bangkok Post and vice-president of the Thai Journalists Association ( TJA ), speaks about the role of Thai media in disseminating information about the Lancang-Mekong region to attract visitors. He attended an award ceremony for the” Lancang-Mekong Effect” Short Video Contest in Lhasa in the Xizang Autonomous Region, also known as Tibet, organised by the China News Service.

The Bangkok Post has an editor scheme to review a wide range of media stories on the market, politics, society, education and commerce in the GMS countries China, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand, he said.

We have had a lot of GMS talk, and we almost always try to get fascinating stories about the Lancang-Mekong countries published on the front page, he said. ” We have also published stories and commentaries about the Lancang-Mekong countries on the Opinion-Analysis page, which is very popular among our readers”.

We also have an Asean page and an Asia page on the Bangkok Post’s international pages, which are only used for stories from Asean and GMS countries, including China, he continued.

Thailand is a key player in GMS tourism, according to Mr. Anucha, and state agencies and the media there are working hard to promote tourism.

According to him, their goal is to increase the number of foreign tourists visiting the GMS region to over 95 million by 2025, citing Thai government information.

The GMS programme was initiated with assistance from the Asian Development Bank in 1992 to promote the sub-regional cooperation of six countries: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China, specifically Yunnan province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

According to Mr. Anucha, the TJA has also ratified the MoU for media exchange and cooperation with GMS partner organizations. The TJA has collaborated closely with its counterparts for many years under the agreement.

They include the All-China Journalists Association, the Club of Cambodian Journalists, the Lao Journalists Association, the Myanmar Journalists Association and the Vietnam Journalists Association, he said.

” Every year, we have media exchange programmes with these GMS countries. It is quite a successful cooperation”, he said. ” We recently finished a program in which Thai journalists traveled to Chongqing to learn about the city, its businesses, and its people,” the programme stated.

Media representatives from GMS nations were given information about Lhasa, Chamdo, and other locations in Tibet during the media exchange event in Lhasa. They visited various locales where they learned about ecological protection, the livelihoods of people, industrial development, culture-tourism integration and preservation of traditional culture and religion.

Since the middle of the seventeenth century, Tibet has been its religious and administrative capital, home to places like the Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, and Norbulingka Palaces.

The southern portion of the city is dotted with high mountains, where the Lhasa River flows.

A group of media representatives from Greater Mekong Sub-Region takes a photo at Lancang River in Changdo, a city in the Xizang Autonomous Region in China, aka Tibet. They attended a media exchange programme organised by the China News Service( CNS) to visit the Lancang-Mekong region in Tibet. (Photo: CNS

Media representatives from the Greater Mekong Sub-Region gather in Changdo, in the Xizang Autonomous Region of China, also known as Tibet, near the Lancang River. They were a part of a China News Service media exchange program. ( Photo: CNS )