The proposal was endorsed by both agencies in Kuala Lumpur today at a pre-council meeting ahead of the Malaysia-Indonesia Joint Committee on Information and Culture Meeting (JCICM).
The Bernama-Antara Summit will enable both sides to deliberate on issues of common interest and formulate initiatives that could boost Malaysia-Indonesia ties.
The idea had cropped up on the sideline of the recent Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) summit meeting in Seoul.
To put the inaugural summit in place, Antara, represented by its international and economic division head Bambang Purwanto, proposed that a preparatory meeting of “three or four editorial staff” from each side be held. Bernama General Manager Hasnul Hassan agreed on the ‘prep meeting” – the date and venue to be suggested by Antara.
Another new initiative agreed at the meeting was the exchanging of video clips -- in line with the decision taken at the OANA summit. Antara currently provides news content for various television stations in the republic.
With its experience in running an all-news, round-the-clock Bernama TV, the Malaysian national news agency was prepared to cooperate with Antara should it decides to set-up its own TV station.
Apart from exchanging video clips, both sides agreed to collaborate in the joint-production of TV talk show and even documentaries.
On existing cooperation, they agreed to expand the journalist attachment programme to include photographers. Both sides also agreed to step-up the marketing of their news – a potentially lucrative area.
