MT&R International Council's 7th Annual Meeting Kicked off in Beijing

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 06, 2002

MT&R International Council's 7th Annual Meeting Kicked off in Beijing

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For most Beijingers, this winter feels colder because it comes upon earlier than it usually does.

But it might not be the case for the attendants to the 7th annual meeting of the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) International Council, which was held yesterday in Beijing. They are heatedly talking about the dynamically changing China and the ensuing business opportunities in its mass media.

"When I first came here, there were only two (TV) channels and very few (TV) stations. Now you have so many stations," said Henry A. Kissinger, member of the Advisory Committee's Presidium of the MT&R International Council. "The progress in China is extraordinary."

A famous international relations expert and the 56th Secretary of State of the United States from 1973 to 1977, Kissinger is better known to Chinese for his legendary secretive visit to China in 1971, which had paved the road for then US President Richard Nixon's meeting with Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong in 1972 and led to the normalized diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Following its World Trade Organization (WTO) entry, China obviously opens up wider to the outside world. Its ever-increasing economic clout has also laid a reliable basis for such moves.

"China's media sector has progressed substantially with its opening-up and reforming strivings," said Zhao Qizheng, director of the State Council Information Office. "With China's WTO accession, we need a strengthened exchange and cooperation between the domestic media and their overseas counterparts."

Founded in 1975 and headquartered in New York, MT&R boasts of the world's biggest collection and exhibition of television and broadcasting archives and facilities. In 1995, MT&R established its International Council, comprised mainly of world-rank media tycoons and political celebrities.

"I hope this (meeting) would create momentum not only to promote understanding of our different cultures, but also develop our on-going business and professional ties," said Frank A. Bennack, Jr., chairman of MT&R's Board of Directors.

MT&R's International Council has a meeting once every year since 1996. The Beijing annual meeting is the first one ever held in a developing country.

Such a choice is because of China's big change, according to Kissinger.

"When I first came to China, China did not have many relations on the world. But now, China is one of the pillars of the international system," he said.

With a theme of "promoting international cultural communication through the digital media", this annual meeting will touch issues such as the current condition of globalization, the relations between State-owned and non-State sectors in media industry, the advertisement and business model in a post-digital world, and the media market in developing countries.

The annual meeting will run until November 7.

By PD Online staff Forest Lee

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