By Noor Bakhtiar Ahmad
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 (Bernama) -- Zimbabwe and Malaysia are negotiating a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on media and broadcasting cooperation aimed at spurring collaborations among media institutions and journalists of the two countries.
Zimbabwe's Secretary for Information, Publicity, and Broadcasting Services Nick Mangwana said the proposed agreement, to be signed between Malaysia's Communications Ministry and Zimbabwe's Ministry of Information, Publicity, and Broadcasting Services, would extend bilateral cooperation between the two countries beyond government-to-government engagements.
"We want to cascade downwards to persons, people to people, institution to institution," he said during an interview on Bernama TV's The Nation Diplomatic Dispatch programme, in an episode titled “Zimbabwe's Vision for Modern Broadcasting” that aired on Friday.
Mangwana said the proposed framework would create new opportunities to promote tourism, investment, and trade between the two countries.
"Those relationships, once established or framed in an MoU, will then go to the institutions and then will go from journalists to journalists, and journalists will increase tourism between our countries, investment between our countries, and trade between our two countries," he said.
Mangwana was hopeful that the media would play a key role in presenting a more accurate picture of Zimbabwe and the African continent to Malaysian audiences.
He said Zimbabwe should not be viewed solely through broad African stereotypes. Each country on the continent has its own identity, strengths, and circumstances.
"Zimbabwe is not Africa. We have to curate that diversity.
"We have to show that Africa is not one huge country and the stereotypes that are used to portray Africans are not the same," he said, adding that trusted media organisations such as Bernama could help portray this and subsequently encourage greater tourism and people-to-people exchanges.
"We need to see more Malaysian tourists coming to Zimbabwe, and of course Zimbabwean tourists coming to Malaysia," he said, noting that Malaysian investors and companies already have a presence in Zimbabwe.
On education, Mangwana said there have been many Zimbabweans pursuing higher education in Malaysia over the years. "Let's see some Malaysian students in Zimbabwe," he said.
Looking beyond bilateral cooperation, Mangwana said Zimbabwe was preparing to play a bigger role on the international stage when it assumes a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in 2027.
"We are representing firstly our region, secondly the Global South. We are going to be the voice of the Global South," he said.
-- BERNAMA