MALAYSIA TO HOLD MEETING ON PROPOSED OIC FILM FESTIVAL

From Yong Soo Heong

RABAT (Morocco), Jan 29 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has been asked to convene a
meeting comprising seven countries aimed at establishing an Organisation of the
Islamic Conference (OIC) film festival, said Information Minister Ahmad
Shabery Cheek.

He said the request came from OIC Secretary-General Prof Ekmeleddin
Ihsanoglu at their meeting today on the sidelines of the 8th Islamic Conference
of Information Ministers (ICIM) here.

Malaysia had proposed the establishment of a film festival along the lines
of the Cannes, Berlin or Marrakech film festivals to enable people involved in
creative industries in the OIC to display their works.

The proposal was also aimed at creating a market place for these creative
industries.

Ahmad Shabery said Ihsanoglu commended Malaysia for the brilliant idea.

For a start, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Indonesia, Egypt, Morocco and Malaysia
would form part of a group or committee to look into the hosting of the
festival.

Malaysia has been asked to write to Ihsanoglu officially on the matter to
enable him to get the process moving.

Meanwhile, the 8th ICIM adopted a resolution that called for the setting up
of a supervisory ministerial sub-committee to develop a comprehensive action
plan to use the services of a team of specialised experts to address the outside
world in a language it understood.

They would also use methods matching the outside world's logic and mindset
with the purpose of correcting the distorted image of Islam.

Malaysia has been named to the sub-committee along with Saudi Arabia,
Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Senegal, Syria and Morocco.

Meanwhile, Iran and Saudi Arabia have pledged to work towards closer
cooperation with Malaysia in the field of media and information.

The pledge was made during Ahmad Shabery Cheek's bilateral meetings with
Iran's Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Hosein Safar Harandi and Saudi
Arabia's Culture and Information Minister Dr Iyad Ameen Madani.

Harandi said Iran supported Malaysia's proposals at the 8th ICIM in
principle on the establishment of the OIC film festival, an OIC tv news channel
and aiding Palestinians with the know-how and resources in the New Media to
allow them to tell the outside world what was happening to their country.

He said the Iranian media had been very active during the recent Israeli
aggression on Gaza to report on the atrocities committed by the aggressors.

He also said Iran would facilitate Bernama set up a bureau in Tehran to
enable the Malaysian national news agency to expand its coverage of that
country.


Ahmad Shabery also expressed the hope that a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) on Information Cooperation between Malaysia and Iran could be signed soon.

During Ahmad Shabery's meeting with Madani, the latter suggested that
officials from Bernama, Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) (the national television
station) and other related bodies visit Saudi Arabia to look into areas for
mutual cooperation so that they could be incorporated into an updated Memorandum
of Understanding on Information Cooperation to be signed between the two
countries.

Malaysia and Saudi last signed an MoU on Information Cooperation in 1982 and
it was felt that it should be updated.

Madani said the Saudi Press Agency also wished to sign an MOU with Bernama
on news exchange.

He also said that there was an urgent need to initiate programmes on the
exchange of journalists and broadcasters to assist in better reporting of
activities in the two countries.

Ahmad Shabery also invited Saudi Arabia to become a member of the
South-South Information Gateway, a depository centre for all news and tv
programmes.

-- BERNAMA