Representatives of ASEAN member countries met in Vientiane on Tuesday for the 51st Meeting of the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information to discuss creative and relevant projects to further raise ASEAN awareness and deepen understandings among the people of ASEAN countries.
The meeting was held under Lao-ASEAN Chairmanship in 2016 along with other ASEAN meetings currently being held in Vientiane.
Recently, the 15th and 16th ASCC Council Meetings were organized in Luang Prabang and Vientiane with productive success. Several important documents of culture were endorsed by ASEAN Socio-Cultural Council (ASCC) ministers namely: the Bandar Seri Begawan Declaration on Culture and Arts to promote ASEAN’s Identity towards a Dynamic and Harmonious ASEAN Community, the Vientiane Declaration on Reinforcing Cultural Heritage Cooperation in ASEAN, and other related documents.
The ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information is one of the oldest institutions of ASEAN. COCI and its two sub committees SCC/SCI have played a key role in raising awareness among the people of ASEAN countries over the years. Activities such as the ASEAN Quiz have done much to educate people, particularly young people in the region, about ASEAN’s cultural diversity.
During the opening remarks, Deputy Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Savanakhone Razmountry highly valued the contributions and efforts of the ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information in developing and implementing a series of important projects on culture and information, for instance, the ASEAN TV News Exchange (ATN), ASEAN in Action (AiA) now known as the Voice of ASEAN-Beyond Boundaries, and some other projects under SCC.
“All the projects are highly appreciated by AMRI (ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Information) and AMCA (ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Culture & Arts) and considered as recurring projects carried out for two decades,” said Mr Savankhone.
“Our meeting today is to follow up on the outcomes of previous meetings. I strongly believe that, through kind consideration, consultation and active participation on the part of all of us, ASEAN Colleagues as well as the ASEAN Secretariat, the meeting today will be crowned as a great success,” said Director General of the International Cooperation Department Bounleuane Boupha.
Source: KPL
