Under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Abdulaziz bin Mohiuddin Khoja, who is also President of Board of Directors of General Authority for Audio and Visual Media, opened here today the 11th Asia Media summit 2014 (AMS), under the title (Media and Diversity: Enriching the Broadcasting Experience). At the outset of the opening ceremony, Dr. Khoja paid a visit to the sponsoring pavilions that are participating in the summit, including the pavilion of the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). The chairman of the General Authority for Audiovisual Media, Dr. Riad Kamal Nigm delivered a speech in which he welcomed the participants in the AMS of the members of the Institute of the Asian Broadcasting Union Development (AIBD); Arab States Broadcasting Union (ABU); Asia-Pacific region and from around the world. He said: I appreciate your presence and participation that will contribute to the development of visions regarding media work and, God willing, this summit will be an opportunity to exchange views and experiences among participants in its activities and those interested in everything related to media in the Asian continent and the world. Dr. Nigm also said that thanks to the massive developments of media, everyone has become living in an open space with faded distances and borders as if we live in a global village, adding that the phenomenon of misuse of the techniques of new media has made some people think that they have the right to publish whatever they want, even the values of hatred, intolerance and exclusion, forgetting that there are limits to freedom of speech, especially when publishing values and principles detrimental to social peace and security. Then, the speech of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was delivered before the 11th Asia Media Summit on his behalf by the Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Abdulaziz bin Mohiuddin Khoja in which he said: I am pleased to welcome you to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is receiving you while looking forward that this summit would be a new brick in the edifice of Asian media cooperation. From this kind land, the last heavenly message has been launched; it is the eternal message of Islam which makes the good word as the basis for the spread of good values to elevate man's behaviors and to be a constructive factor in the Islamic civilization. The word you today bear its honesty is of great responsibility, where Allah Almighty Says 'Have you not considered how Allah presents an example, [making] a good word like a good tree, whose root is firmly fixed and its branches [high] in the sky. It produces its fruit all the time, by permission of its Lord. And Allah presents examples for the people that perhaps they will be reminded. And the example of a bad word is like a bad tree, uprooted from the surface of the earth, not having any stability.' Founder of this country, late King Abdulaziz realized more than a hundred years ago that the media men and writers are partners in the march of transformation and modernization, and they have influential keys that can contribute to the society's speedy acceptance of his civilized and development project of modernization, so that he - Allah Almighty's mercy upon him - supported the media activity early despite the lack of resources at that time and then, the first newspaper was issued under the name ' Om Al Qura' more than ninety years ago while the radio approaches its 90th anniversary and the TV celebrated its 50th year since its inception several days ago. Those beginnings led us to an integrated media system with which we are seeking to serve the nation, its citizens and promote the tolerant principles of Islamic law. Our media did not stop to achieve this goal only as using traditional means and when the social media was spreading, it began to take a large part of the media landscape from which we were not far away nor afraid of it to the extent that the State has provided a strong structure along the vast areas of the Kingdom. Percentage of its users increased and the State developed a regulation for it to ensure its contribution to education and culture, and to be a forum for the exchange of useful ideas based on wisdom and reason. You are now in your 11th summit, it is undoubted that the regularity of convening these summits is an evidence of their importance and the keenness of their organizers to be professional summits and to contribute to the development of the content of the media. As you know that the producers of technology are in a permanent race for production of quick and comfortable means that may give happiness to those working in the media field, yet put them in front of difficult challenges and imposing permanent renewal on them in the form and content of their media messages in order to be able to attract the recipients of their content, affecting positively in their behavior. This media summit and its outcomes of perceptions and plans and what you are organizing of meetings and training workshops effectively contribute to raising the level of media product in the media. The nations of the world are exposed to the external cultural effects shaking their religious and humanitarian values by tarnishing their purity and weakening their ethical systems through the marketing of irresponsible works. All what we hope from this summit, which is comprised of versed experts who have their status and influence, is to seek to make the media product as a messenger of love and goodness respecting the religious values and strengthening moral system to remain a good tree under which all humans enjoy its shadow. You are aware of what the world is nowadays witnessing of conflicts and human tragedies of which the news bulletins are full and here comes the role of the responsible word in all media to contribute to promoting the values of communication within the spectra of the same society or with other communities. Proceeding on the basis of the status of the kingdom, which has been endowed and honored by Almighty Allah with the existence of the Qiblah of Muslims in Makkah Almakaramah for more than a billion Muslims around the world, we have sought to spread the culture of dialogue among Muslims with each other and with other faiths and cultures. We patronized the International Islamic Conference for Dialogue held in Makkah in June 2008. The conference issued the Call of Makkah Almakaramah in which we emphasized the importance of dialogue in Islam and that the divine messages have all called for the good of man; maintaining his dignity; promoting the values of ethics, honesty and values, cohesion and ethics of family whose ties have disintegrated in this era as man walked away from his Lord and the teachings of his religion. The Makkah Almakaramah conference was followed by the World Conference on Dialogue in Madrid, Spain, in July 2008 and issued the Declaration of Madrid including a number of principles agreed upon by the participants in that conference. It is time to learn from the harsh lessons of the past; gather around the ethics and ideals that we all believe in; and make the culture of dialogue a continuing action and approach. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in cooperation with the Austrian government, has launched in November 2012 the King Abdullah International Dialogue Center among Followers of Religions and Cultures in its permanent headquarters in Vienna. The center was established with the strategic aim of promoting a culture of dialogue among the followers of religions and cultures and building bridges to achieve this with the search for solutions to the conflicts to promote the values of cooperation among various groups. The event was attended by Prince Khalid bin Saud bin Kahlid bin Turki, Undersecretary of the General President of Metrology and Environment Protection for Technical Affairs, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Abdullah Aljasir, President of Radio and Television Commission Abdulrahman Alhazaa, President of Saudi Press Agency Abdullah bin Fahd Alhussein and other others.
