The
signing of the MoU at Bernama's headquarters, was witnessed by Russian Deputy
Minister of Communications and Mass Media, Alexey Volin, who is on a three-day
visit to Malaysia until Tuesday.
Bernama
editor-in-chief, Datuk Zakaria Abd Wahab and Rossiya Segodnya media group Head
of International Projects Centre, Vasily Pushkov signed the MoU on behalf of
Bernama and Sputnik, respectively.
Sputnik,
launched on Nov 10, 2014, by the Russian media group Rossiya Segodnya, is
headquartered in Moscow with regional offices around the world such as the United
States, China, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Volin
described the MoU as the beginning of further and deeper cooperation, not only
for Sputnik and Bernama, but also other Russian media organisations.
"Next,
there will be opportunities on exchange of photos as both Sputnik and Bernama
have large photo libraries with more than 1 million pictures. It will also be
possible to exchange audio file for radio.
"Today,
we also have representatives from RT, who are here for negotiations with
Bernama about possible cooperation with Bernama News Channel on news
exchange," he told Bernama after the signing.
Zakaria
said the MoU provides more varieties of news for the Malaysian audience, as well
as a great platform of bringing the Malaysian news stories to Russia and
beyond, considering that Sputnik is one of the giants among world's media.
"A
lot is being offered to Bernama through this MoU, not just with Sputnik, but
also in the future with RT. In this context, this latest cooperation benefits
Bernama, and is in line with its mission to internationalised the agency and
its services," he said.
Zakaria
added the cooperation also enables Bernama to bring latest information on the
upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup to be hosted by Russia from June 14-July 15, 2018.
The
other member of the Russian media delegation include RT Head of International
Cooperation Department, Karina Melikyan; RT Department of Network Distribution,
Dmitry Povetkin; RUPTLY Adviser on Business Development, Igor Kolesnikov; and
Second Secretary, Press Attache at the Russian Embassy in Malaysia, Maxim
Salnikov.
Also
present at the meeting for Bernama include deputies editor-in-chief Datuk
Mokhtar Hussain (Domestic News Service), Ahmad Zukiman Mohd Zain (International
News Service) and Nor Faridah Abd Rashid (Economic News Service).
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BERNAMA
