The 20th Meeting of the ASEAN Senior Officials Responsible for Information (SOMRI) was held to discuss issues that will eventually be submitted to the 16th ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Information (AMRI) meeting in the central city of Da Nang, Vietnam, on September 22.
Deputy Director-General of the Public Relations Department (PRD), Sudruetai Lertkasem, represented the Permanent Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office at the 20thSOMRI, as SOMRI Chair who will be passing the duty of chairmanship onto Vietnam. She said that, for the past two years of Thailand’s chairmanship, a presidency was initiated with the hope of resuming a normal way of life for people in ASEAN after facing a tough situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
PRD Deputy Director-General said during its tenure, Thailand strengthened the theme “Digital Community and Accessibility for All” to ease the intense situation caused by COVID-19 and other challenges. However, tough situations have brought together the media and information sectors, particularly the SOMRI working group which has played an active role in strengthening media and digital literacy, countering fake news, and reducing the gap for vulnerable groups to overcome the pandemic.
As Thailand shall pass SOMRI Chairmanship to Vietnam, Ms. Sudruetai firmly believes that under Vietnam’s Chairmanship with the theme “MEDIA: From Information to Knowledge for a Resilient and Responsive ASEAN,” all ASEAN member states will continue their close cooperation in promoting greater ASEAN readiness for the digital age as well as media and information literacy in the region. (NNT)
