KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) — The Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) and Russia's Sputnik news agency today signed a memorandum of understanding on news exchange which open up an opportunity for broader cooperation in the media sphere between the two countries.
The signing of the MoU at Bernama's headquarters, was witnessed by Russian Deputy Minister of Communications and Mass Media, Alexey Volin, who is on a three-day visit to Malaysia until Tuesday.
Bernama editor-in-chief, Datuk Zakaria Abd Wahab and Rossiya Segodnya media group Head of International Projects Center, Vasily Pushkov signed the MoU on behalf of Bernama and Sputnik, respectively.
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Sputnik, launched on Nov 10, 2014, by the Russian media group Rossiya Segodnya, is headquartered in Moscow with regional offices around the world such as the US, China, France, Germany and the UK.
Volin described the MoU as the beginning of further and deeper cooperation, not only for Sputnik and Bernama, but also other Russian media organizations.
"Next, there will be opportunities on the exchange of photos as both Sputnik and Bernama have large photo libraries with more than 1 million pictures. It will also be possible to exchange audio files for radio. Today, we also have representatives from RT, who are here for negotiations with Bernama about possible cooperation with the Bernama News Channel on news exchange," he told Bernama after the signing today.
Meanwhile Zakaria said the MoU will provide more varieties of news for the Malaysian audience, as well as a great platform for bringing Malaysian news stories to Russia and beyond, considering that Sputnik is one of the giants among international media.
"A lot is being offered to Bernama through this MoU, not just with Sputnik, but also in the future with RT. In this context, this latest cooperation benefits Bernama, and is in line with its mission to internationalize the agency and its services," he said.
Zakaria added that this cooperation also enables Bernama to carry the latest information on the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup to be hosted by Russia from June 14-July 15, 2018.
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Also present at the meeting for Bernama include deputies editor-in-chief Datuk Mokhtar Hussain (Domestic News Service), Ahmad Zukiman Mohd Zain (International News Service) and Nor Faridah Abd Rashid (Economic News Service).
