10th anniversary of Asia News Network marked

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva today will join 10th-anniversary celebrations for the Asia News Network, an alliance of 20 newspapers in 17 Asian countries.

ANN was established with seven members and has grown to cover almost every Asian nation between Japan and Pakistan.

"We are happy to be back in Bangkok, where Asia News Network was founded," chairman Isagani Yambot, who is also publisher of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, said yesterday. "We have come a long way, and the network is now considered the most active of its kind in the world and a prime example of successful intra-Asian cooperation."

Network members exchange news and photos on a daily basis and jointly produce a weekly news magazine carried on Star Alliance airlines.

Today, the cooperation is extended to joint organisation of regional conferences, while its content is being distributed globally by Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

Besides Thailand's The Nation, the members are The Daily Star (Bangladesh), Rasmei Kampuchea (Cambodia), China Daily, The China Post (Taiwan), The Statesman (India), The Jakarta Post, Daily Yomiuri (Japan), The Korea Herald, Vientiane Times, The Star and Sin Chiew Daily (Malaysia), The Kathmandu Post (Nepal), Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Straits Times (Singapore), The Nation (Pakistan), The Island (Sri Lanka), The Brunei Times and Viet Nam News.

Bhutan's Kuensel is attending ahead of becoming the 21st member.

Forty editors and publishers from the members are convening in the Peninsula Hotel for the grand event.

Others include Gerhard Wahlers, deputy secretary-general of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Germany. Among the guests will be Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra.

The 10th-anniversary activities include a keynote address on Thailand and Asia by Abhisit, the launch of a book on ANN and a panel discussion on "Asia Media: What's Next".