Manama: Foreign media officials in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have stressed the need to formulate a common media strategy that will reflect the positive image of the six member countries abroad.
The officials, who were holding a meeting in the Qatari capital Doha, reviewed plans and suggestions for future actions in their communication drive with the international community.
The GCC, established in 1981, comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“The participants discussed several issues related to the progress of their work, including a common strategy to rectify the distorted image that some Western media have about the countries in the region,” Ahmad Al Buainain, the head of the foreign media department at Qatar News Agency (QNA) said.
“The meeting also discussed several papers and new ideas regarding the way forward for the GCC foreign media in European and Asian countries in order to convey the realities on the ground, he said, quoted by QNA.
Plans include holding seminars and meetings with research centres or organizing events at international functions in Europe and in which the GCC countries are participating, he added.
“This new drive is a continuation of the activities conducted by the foreign media officials at past events,” he said.
Ahmed Mussa Al Dhabyan, the head of media cooperation at the GCC Secretariat General, said that the GCC foreign media officials sought to build on their successful experience and formulate a new strategy that matched the latest developments in the communication field.
“The world has gone beyond the global village concept and has now become a single house,” he said. “The GCC has a significant political and economic weight and it has a special standing internationally, and therefore it needs to have a foreign media presence that matches its stature,” he said.
Recommendations endorsed by the participants will be referred to the GCC information ministers for discussion at their next meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh, he added.
Foreign media departments in the GCC countries have been organizing GCC Days annually in a European or Asian city with a focus on bridging gaps by building cultural links with international communities in a bid to boost mutual understanding and ensure easier and direct communication at the official and popular levels.
The GCC Days have been organised in Paris, Brussels, Berlin, The Hague, Madrid, Rome, London and Seoul, Stockholm and Tokyo.
