MOTAC ORGANISES MEDIA BRIEFING FOR ASCC AHEAD OF MALAYSIA'S ASEAN CHAIRMANSHIP

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 (Bernama) — The Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture (MOTAC) today organised a media briefing for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) in preparation for Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship next year.

The hour-long briefing session was attended by over 50 media practitioners and editors from numerous local and international media agencies. 

MOTAC is the lead coordinator of the ASCC, which comprises 15 sectoral bodies across various ministries.

During the briefing, MOTAC secretary-general Datuk Roslan Abdul Rahman announced that 84 meetings and programmes are planned under the ASCC pillar for 2025, spanning various sectors including culture and arts, information, youth, education, disaster management, social welfare, women and children’s rights, rural development, poverty alleviation, sports, gender equality, labour, civil service, health, environment, and transboundary haze.

He said that ASCC would also focus on the key areas of arts and culture, artificial intelligence (AI), digitalisation, youth and sports, health, as well as climate change.

“These are the combination of ministerial meetings, senior official meetings, working group meetings as well as conferences and other programmes. We have 16 programmes under the Ministry of Youth and Sports, MOTAC (14), Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (10), and Ministry of Health (8).

“Other ministries and agencies include the Ministry of Higher Education which will have seven programmes, Ministry of National Unity (7), Ministry of Housing and Local Government (5), and Ministry of Communication (5),” he said.

Roslan added that the meetings would include the ASCC Secondment Officers Meeting in January, the Senior Officials Committee for ASCC (SOCA) Retreat in March, the ASCC Ad-Hoc Working Group Meeting in April, and the 8th Working Group Meeting on Culture of Prevention in September.

Furthermore, Roslan stated that the media will be engaged to raise awareness of these ASCC programmes to ensure ASEAN initiatives are effectively communicated at the grassroots level.

Malaysia will officially assume the ASEAN Chairmanship on Jan 1, 2025, under the theme "Inclusivity and Sustainability," and is set to host over 300 ASEAN-related meetings, programmes, and summits throughout the year.

— BERNAMA