Second Bangladesh-India Dialogue of Young Journalists
Share information to improve standard of life in South Asia
Reaz Rahman urges journalists
Staff Correspondent
South Asian journalists should share information, use the common regional inventory and pool commonalties to improve the standard of life in the South Asian region, Adviser to the Foreign Ministry Reaz Rahman said yesterday.The concept of sovereignty and security, nature of conflict and the primacy of the state are changing because of globalisation, and the role of the media is to present these changes to the region, he added. "There is a need to share our perceptions to put things on the table to find quick solutions," the adviser told the concluding session of the Second Bangladesh-India Dialogue of Young Journalists, co-organised by Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) and the British High Commission. The two-day dialogue had four sessions and was attended by renowned Indian columnist and The Asian Age Editor MJ Akbar and Editor of The Telegraph Ashish Chakrabarti from India. The Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam and The Independent Editor Mahbubul Alam attended it from Bangladesh. The dialogue brought together 13 journalists from India, five of them from the northeast, and 20 from Bangladesh. The four sessions focused on Bangladesh-India energy cooperation, regional and sub-regional cooperation and the future of Saarc, and Bangladesh-India communications. Speaking as the special guest, British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury said the only way to resolve differences is to recognise them first. He stressed the media has a role to report responsibly in order to create an environment for the prosperity of India and Bangladesh, which share both resources and culture. He added that despite a gloomy picture of Indo-Bangla relationship portrayed by the media, "people tell me that in reality day-to-day links are as healthy and positive as ever". Speaking on behalf of the dialogue participants, MJ Akbar proposed some forms of joint reporting by Bangladeshi and Indian journalists on contentious issues to find what he said was, "The elusive truth". On the success of Saarc, Akbar said, "There comes a time for an idea to mature and flourish and we may have reached the ideal moment." Explaining the lacklustre performance of Saarc to date, he observed, "Nothing might happen for a long time, but everything might happen at once." Indian High Commissioner Sarvanjit Chakravarti and BEI Chairman Farook Sobhan also spoke.
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