By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — A ranking official of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) on Friday said the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) opens more opportunity to increase understanding between China and the Philippines through media and cultural exchanges.
“Though its main thrust is economic development, it undeniably opens doors for promoting cooperation in other aspects such as culture and media,” Virginia Arcilla-Agtay, director of the PCOO-News and Information Bureau told a panel during the BRI Philippine-China Forum in Pasay City.
In the government media, the official said the Philippine News Agency and PTV4 have engaged China and the states included in the BRI through their participation in a media network.
“The PNA has an existing Belt and Road News Alliance. It’s an aggregation of news agencies, the members of the BRI,” she said.
Through this arrangement, Arcilla-Agtay said the state-run media are allowed to pick up vetted news articles at the same time share their content with the BRI member-states.
“It’s a news exchange,” she said.
“Being news aggregation, from their side alone, we get an array of stories to select from. Members of the BRI are also members of the BRNI, but the PNA is very careful, we can’t just get all the stories from all the member-states but we can do it,” she added.
Although the set-up is not black and white agreement, the official said the partnership “through email” is there– “we are part of the BRNI.”
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