Foreign journalists at the opening ceremony of the BRNN Media Workshop Photo: Courtesy of People's Daily  

More than 50 senior journalists from 46 media outlets from 26 Latin American and African countries will participate in a media workshop for the Belt and Road News Network (BRNN) in China.

Hosted by China's State Council Information Office, the media workshop kicked off on Monday in Beijing. Jiang Jianguo, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, addressed the opening ceremony.

"News media is an important carrier for cultural heritage, and a bridge to enhance mutual understanding and friendship among countries," Jiang said in his speech.

Jiang pointed out that "Enhancing exchanges and mutual learning among media of different countries serves as a way to attain common development of news media across the world so as to better fulfill the mission and responsibility of media." 

Tuo Zhen, editor-in-chief of the People's Daily, the CPC flagship media and an organizer of the media workshop, said that as many as 194 media outlets from 94 countries have become official members of BRNN.

"The short-term visit is a major program in implementing the commitment of BRNN, and a move to enhance exchanges, intensify people-to-people communication and mutual learning, and promote high-quality news reports under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative," Tuo said.

Nwabisa Makunga, editor of the Herald and Weekend Post of South Africa, also addressed the opening ceremony.

The two-week program includes seminars in Beijing and local inspections in such provinces as Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Guizhou and Guangdong, providing foreign media a chance to have in-depth discussions with each other on media convergence and to personally experience the development and achievements China has made.

Global Times