Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, welcoming the guest, said Malaysia was a trustworthy friend of Pakistan and those bonds were cementing with the passage of time.
The Minister said media in the country enjoyed full liberty as over 50 Television Channels had been accorded licenses while 55 licenses had been given for the setting up of FM Radio channels across the country. He said with the aim to provide further access to the people for entertainment and information DTH technology was being introduced thus providing an access to bouquet of 50 to 300 television channels to the viewers.
He said that over 1,000 newspapers and periodicals were published from different parts of the country on daily basis, which was a clear testimony to the promotion of the cause of free media.
He proposed that Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) and Bernama News Agency of Malaysia may have more vigorous co-operation for the exchange of news utilising the latest internet and telecommunication facilities.
In response, the visiting Information Minister said soon a delegation of media officials from Malaysia would visit Pakistan to find out the ways and means to have further co-operation between the media of both countries. Their recommendations, he said, would be discussed and finalised at Ministerial level meeting of both countries to be held in Malaysia in mid April.
The Malaysian Information Minister also extended a formal invitation to Sheikh Rashid Ahmed to visit Malaysia to attend the meeting.
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed accepted the invitation with thanks and said he would attend the upcoming meeting.
Dato Paduka Abdul Qadir also highlighted the need for having cultural exchanges at more vigorous level and said that would not only enhance mutual co-operation between the two countries but also help strengthen the tourism besides fetching investments in different sectors.
Later, talking to media-persons, both the Ministers expressed happiness over the protocol to have joint productions and said those steps would go a long way in having deep rooted and further fraternal ties between the two countries.
Secretary Information Shahid Rafi gave detailed briefing about working of the Ministry and its allied departments including PTV, Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) and APP.
Ministry of Information Additional Secretary Ahsan Yusaf, PTV Managing Director Arshad Khan, PBC Director General Tarique Imam, APP Director General Fazal ur Rehman Malik and Director General External Publicity A S Abbasi were also present in the meeting.