Head of the Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications’ External Relations Department Quan Duy Ngan Ha is attending the 11 th ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting Responsible for Information (SOMRI-11) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The two-day meeting reviews ASEAN media cooperation and discuss the contents for the 11 th Conference of ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Information (AMRI-11), themed "Media: Connecting Peoples and Bridging Cultures towards One ASEAN Community" on March 1 in Kuala Lumpur.

Addressing the event that will close on Feb. 29, Ha informed participants about Vietnam’s communications activities to raise people’s understanding about ASEAN.

She emphasised Vietnam’s stance on the necessity to have more effective and close coordination between ASEAN media management agencies, particularly AMRI, SOMRI and coordinating agencies of the three pillars of the ASEAN Community and the ASEAN Connectivity Coordinating Committee, to disseminate information about the bloc and carry out practical activities to connect people inside the bloc from now until the establishment of the ASEAN Community.

As the coordinator for ASEAN-China relations, Vietnam briefed the meeting on the results of communications cooperation within the framework of the ASEAN-China work plan on information and media cooperation for 2011-2015, including the successful organisation of the ASEAN-China journalism managers forum in Beijing in 2010 and a project on the exchange of ASEAN-China TV reporters, presenters and programme producers in China in 2011

SOMRI-11 focused the discussion on the role of ASEAN media agencies in speeding up the promotion of the three pillars of the ASEAN Community and a master plan on ASEAN connectivity.

SOMRI officials agreed to enhance the coordination of national and regional efforts and promote the role of modern communications tools to disseminate information on ASEAN and the ASEAN Community to the people.

The meeting also discussed the information and communications cooperation between ASEAN and its dialogue partners, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea.-VNA