Tunis: A memorandum of understanding and cooperation agreements in the audiovisual sector were signed Thursday in Tunis by the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) and China represented by the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA).
The MoU was inked as part of the China-Arab states Audiovisual Cooperation Forum held within the framework of the 24th edition of the Arab Radio and Television Festival.
The China-Arab States Forum was attended by deputy head of the NRTA Dong Xin, ASBU President Mohammed bin Fahd Al-Harthi and the broadcasting authority’s Director General Abdul Rahim Suleiman.
The signing ceremony took place in the presence of China’s Ambassador to Tunisia Wan Li and some Arab and Chinese audiovisual professionals.
The agreements provide for the development of audiovisual partnership and the exchange of expertise and experiences.
This cooperation forum, organised by China’s NRTA) in cooperation with the ASBU is a key platform for both sides, said Dong Xin.
The event is designd
to scale up cooperation with Arab countries, broadcasting programmes in Arabic and supporting co-productions.
The Chinese official said there are electronic audiovisual plateforms in China which broadcast massively in Arabic. They have grown into a quite important medium of audiovisual exchange and cooperation with the Arab world.
The State Council Information Office of China and the NRTA have been participating in the ASBU festival since 2016 in a bid to encouraging and helping audiovisual institutions broaden the scope of exchange and cooperation with Arab countries in copyright and content co-production.
Some twenty audiovisual institutions brodcast over seventy audiovisual productions in the Arab world. Partnership is expected to gain momentum, the official added.
China and the Arab world boast a rich cultural heritage, in addition to the common visions and objectives in connection to the production of audiovisual content and its promotion across the world.
China, he further said, is keen to boost pa
rtnerships with Arab countries as testifies to that the China-Arab Audiovisual Forum held with attendance of experts from both sides to exchange ideas, experiences, epertise and networking.
ASBU Director General placed emphasis on the importance of this event in boosting partnership opportunities, mainly in relation to programmes of training and cooperation in Artifical Intelligence.
Cooperation with Chines media is one of the strategies which the ASBU seeks to bolster to increase the exchange of experiences and expertise.
The 24th edition of the Arab Radio and Television Festival opened on Wednesday evening at the Roman amphitheatre of Carthage under the sign of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The festival is organised by the ASBU in partenership with ministry of Cultural Affairs, the Tunisian Radio and Television Corporations and the Arab satellite communication organisation (Arabsat)
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse