On the evening of December 19, the lecture hall of the People's Daily was warm and warm. The second board meeting of the "Belt and Road" News Cooperation Alliance sponsored by the "Belt and Road" News Cooperation Alliance and hosted by the People's Daily, the chairman's unit, was held here. Representatives from 38 board units from 23 countries attended the meeting in a combination of online and offline ways, and discussed friendship, discussed cooperation and jointly sought development on the theme of how to better play the role of alliances, promoted cultural exchanges and people-to-people communication.

The guests at the meeting said that over the past three years, the alliance members have promoted the spirit of the Silk Road, strengthened information exchange, told development stories, enhanced cooperation and friendship, created a good public opinion atmosphere for jointly building the "Belt and Road", and promoted people's hearts and hearts in countries and regions along the route. At the meeting, the first International Communication "Silk Road Award" was grandly announced.

Build a communication bridge, and the cooperation results are significant

Three years ago, the seeds of cooperation were sown, and now the tree of unity and cooperation has grown vigorously. Member units of the "Belt and Road" News Cooperation Alliance uphold the spirit of the Silk Road, give full play to the functions of media and socially, promote the implementation of projects such as news sharing, forum exchanges, and visiting learning training, becoming a vivid practice for building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Tuo Zhen, president of the People's Daily, delivered a report on the work of the first board of directors of the "Belt and Road" News Cooperation Alliance to the meeting.

Tuo Zhen said that President Xi Jinping pointed out: "The Belt and Road News Cooperation Alliance provides a convenient platform for media in various countries to communicate and cooperate." Today, the alliance has developed into an important media cooperation platform for the joint construction of countries and regions of the "Belt and Road" and has achieved remarkable cooperation results in expanding member scale, consolidating infrastructure, deepening business cooperation, expanding dialogue mechanisms, innovating brand projects, and jointly building anti-epidemic defense lines. The convening of the second council meeting marks a new stage in the development of the alliance. As the chairman unit, the People's Daily will continue to do good things and serve all the board units and member units. Together with everyone, we will continue to deepen the construction of the alliance and strive to build the alliance into an open, cooperative, mutually beneficial and win-win media network platform, and build it into a friendly, friendly, warm and harmonious family of media peers.

"We should not forget the original intention of establishing the alliance, namely, share information, display the achievements made by countries and regions along the Belt and Road, and build a news network with strong influence." Ikebo Sewi, non-executive chairman of the South African Independent Media Group, believes that strengthening cooperation between media institutions in countries along the route will help convey the right voice.

Fasel Barut, director of the Central Editorial Department of Emirates News Agency, said that Emirates News Agency uses 19 languages to spread stories happening in countries and regions along the "Belt and Road", actively share news materials and exchange reports with alliance member units, and help the majority of Arab people understand the "Belt and Road" more objectively and accurately.

Today, Dmitry Joak, president and editor-in-chief of Belarus Publishing Group, said that the world today is in a state of drastic turmoil. The achievements made by the "Belt and Road" News Cooperation Alliance since its establishment have allowed the world to see the possibility of equal cooperation and are of great significance.

In the view of Zhang Lei, deputy editor-in-chief of China News Service, the media is not only a window to showcase the achievements of jointly building the "Belt and Road", but also a bridge and link to promote mutual understanding between the people of China and foreign countries. He said that the "Belt and Road" News Cooperation Alliance has developed into an important platform for interconnection and efficient cooperation among media and a global information platform connecting the countries and regions of the "Belt and Road" jointly built, and has established an "emotional Silk Road" for people along the "Belt and Road".

Create excellent works and carry forward the spirit of the Silk Road

In the middle of the venue, the first International Communication "Silk Road Award" trophy shines brightly.

The "Silk Road Award" of International Communication is one of the key brand projects created by the alliance. It has been included in the list of the results of the Second Belt and Road International Cooperation Summit Forum. It aims to encourage and guide news media organizations and regions along the "Belt and Road" and to learn from each other, carry forward the spirit of the Silk Road, jointly tell the story of the "Belt and Road" and jointly spread the voice of the "Belt and Road".

Since the end of 2019, the Alliance Secretariat has collected 4,485 works and participants from 80 countries and regions. After three stages, including the initial evaluation of the Academic Committee, the re-evaluation of the Evaluation Committee, and the final evaluation of the Council, 19 works including "Kazakhstan and the Belt and Road Initiative: Where to Go" won five categories of awards, including the "In-depth Reporting Award". Mushahid Hussein Said, head of Pakistan's "Friends of the Silk Road" club and chairman of Pakistan's Middle School, won the Special Contribution Award.

Fang Jiangshan, director of the Evaluation Committee of the First International Communication "Silk Road Award" and deputy editor-in-chief of the People's Daily, introduced that the successful selection of the first "Silk Road Award" was announced, with the original intention of adhering to the establishment of awards, insisting on the openness, transparency and professionalism, fully reflecting professionalism, normative authority, insisting on openness, and internationalism, which will help attract more media, works, and individuals to tell the struggle, success stories, happiness stories, and dream stories of jointly building the "Belt and Road", and jointly write a new chapter in the news cooperation of the "Belt and Road".

"We must use the pen and lens in our hands to present wonderful stories, show the power of cooperation, and convey the humanistic spirit and the value of the times." Zhou Zongmin, deputy editor-in-chief of Xinhua News Agency, said that as the radiation and influence of the "Belt and Road" become stronger and stronger, media organizations should tell the true story of the "Belt and Road" with their hearts and emotions, and work together to promote the mutual understanding of the people.

"We are highly encouraged by the representatives of Pakistan to win the Special Contribution Award for the First International Communication 'Silk Road Award'." Salmand Ali, general manager of Pakistan Combat Media Group, believes that the "Belt and Road" News Cooperation Alliance has effectively promoted exchanges and cooperation between news media in different countries, and will help better build a community with a shared future for mankind.

Taofikrahman Mohamed, editor-in-chief of the Indonesian Jakarta Post, participated in the selection of the "Silk Road Award". He said that in the past three years, Chinese media and Indonesian media have strengthened cooperation and hope to use the alliance platform to establish more news exchanges with mainstream media organizations around the world.

Emilio Crespo, director of the International Relations Department of Effie, Spain, said that the "Belt and Road" News Cooperation Alliance has promoted exchanges and cooperation among media in various countries, providing new opportunities for further expanding media information sharing and cooperation, and can provide better media services to audiences and related customers.

Expand cooperation space and create a better future together

Same sound corresponds to each other, and same breath seeks each other. At present, the alliance has attracted 218 media from 101 countries around the world to become official members of the "Belt and Road" News Cooperation Alliance, covering major countries along the "Belt and Road". As communication, influence and appeal continue to increase, more and more mainstream media in more and more countries hope to join the alliance family.

"I believe that the second council meeting will lead the coalition into a stage of balanced, coordinated and inclusive growth." As a new member of the council meeting, Luis Gonzalez, president of the Cuba Latin American News Agency, said that under the framework of alliance cooperation, media from various countries can establish deeper connections, create synergies in priority areas, and promote the implementation of the global development initiative.

The newly added membership unit, Nina Nichibolova, the first deputy editor-in-chief of the Bishkek Evening News in Kyrgyzstan, also empathizes with this. She believes that the "Belt and Road" News Cooperation Alliance will help practice the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, not only promote the sharing of economic reports among various media, but also help various countries to exchange and learn from cultures.

At present, the world is in a new period of turbulence and change. It is the media’s responsibility to record history, report facts, communicate people’s hearts, and inject positive energy into the peaceful and stable development of the world. The representatives of the participating institutions were full of expectations for the future of the alliance and expressed that they would deepen friendly cooperation among all parties, mutual benefit and win-win results under the platform and framework of the news cooperation alliance, and make more contributions to the high-quality development of the "Belt and Road".

"The Belt and Road News Cooperation Alliance mechanism has gathered wisdom and strength to respond to global challenges such as global epidemic, climate change, and energy shortage." Sun Xiande, executive editor-in-chief and vice president of South Korea's Meijing Media Group, said that at present, the alliance members uphold the spirit of the Silk Road, work together, and forge ahead to build a better world.

Gao Anming, deputy director and editor-in-chief of China Foreign Languages Publishing and Distribution Bureau, said that the alliance should uphold a higher historical position and a broader global perspective, find the points of interest in all parties and the greatest common divisor of cooperation, and be a concentrator of consensus through high-quality reporting and interpretation, and increase confidence and resolve doubts.

"Only through open, in-depth and honest dialogue and exchanges, we can strengthen broader and deeper cooperation and establish a stronger mutually beneficial and win-win relationship." said Wu Xueru, chief content officer of Malaysia's Star Media Group.

Two and a half hours together in the clouds, talking freely, and not fulfilling their wishes. This is a positive and enthusiastic exchange, an efficient and pragmatic meeting, a meaningful and promising starting point in the future.

Yu Shaoliang, editor-in-chief of the People's Daily, summarized the results of the second board meeting of the "Belt and Road" News Cooperation Alliance. First, adhere to the original aspiration of the alliance and be a good promoter of peaceful development; second, gather the alliance's joint efforts and be a good promoter of cooperation results; third, enrich alliance projects and be a good demonstration of cultural exchanges. Yu Shaoliang said that he looks forward to working together in the future to further promote business communication, information sharing and action coordination within the alliance framework, further promote new media cooperation and cultural exchanges among alliance members to deepen and practically develop, and continuously build a closer "Belt and Road" news partnership.

"People's Daily" (Edit 09, December 22, 2022)