Saudi Arabia: Media Seminar to Focus on UN's Millennium Goals

RIYADH, 27 November 2006 -- Prince Faisal Bin Salman, chairman of the board of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG), will inaugurate today a two-day seminar on Saudi media's role in the nation's human resources development with related discussions on the achievement of the UN's Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is organizing the program, which will be held at the UN office in Riyadh, in coordination with the Ministry of Culture and Information.

"The seminar will focus on the role of media in human development. The participants will be mainly media representatives working in the Kingdom," Dima Bashir Al-Azem, UNDP's PR manager involved in the planning of the event, told Arab News.

She added that high profile people would be delivering presentations, moderating sessions, and facilitating discussions at the group workshops.

The topics that will be taken up for discussions include: the role of media in the achievement of the UN's Millennium Development Goals, the role of media in the development of education, the role of media in combating HIV/AIDS, the role of media in the development of women, the role of media in the development of children and youth and the role of media in the development and protection of the environment.

At the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, 191 leaders and representatives from various countries including the Kingdom, adopted the millennium goals that included a set of targets that must be achieved by year 2015.

"Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest donor countries in development and its efforts have been widely recognized," Al-Azem said.

However, she noted that those efforts must be aligned correctly to reap the desired results. It is evident that every sector in society has a role to play in the path of development, and the media have major influence on most of the sectors.

She added that transparency, knowledge and interest for positive change must be the prevailing attributes among media men and organizations.

By Mohammed Rasooldeen