The concluding ceremony of the First BIMSTEC Film, Media and Journalism Conference 2020 was held on January 21, 2020 in the Auditorium of American International University-Bangladesh. Dr. Murad Hasan, Honorable State Minister for Information, People’s Republic of Bangladesh was the Chief Guest of the programme and Ms. Beatrice Kaldun, Head of the Office and UNESCO Representative to Bangladesh, was present as the Special Guest. Dr. Carmen Z Lamagna, Vice-Chancellor of AIUB, presided over the programme.
Dr. Murad Hasan highlighted Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s contribution in flourishing the media industry of the country and commended the organizers for arranging the conference to mark the birth centenary of the father of the nation. Ms. Beatrice Kaldun underscored the importance of collective effort among the BIMSTEC members to reinforce mutual trust and cooperation. Professor Dr. A J M Shafiul Alam Bhuiyan, convener of the conference, conveyed his gratitude to the sponsors of the event and expressed his hope to extend this venture of scholarship in the coming days. Dr. Carmen Z Lamagna emphasized the necessity of more collaboration among the BIMSTEC countries in the field of media and journalism to foster the people-to-people contact in this region.
Last day’s event at AIUB started with the Plenary Session where Keynote Speaker Professor Dr. Yuezhi Zhao, Canada Research Chair in Political Economy of Communication at Simon Fraser University, Canada, presented paper titled Rise of China and Its Implications for the South Asian Media and Communication. It was followed by two thematic sessions titled ‘Cinema and Identity’ and ‘New Media and Fake News’ and a technical session to decide the future course of action to continue with the initiative.
The conference was jointly organized by the Department of Television, Film and Photography, University of Dhaka and the Department of Media and Mass Communication, American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB). Events of first two days took place in the University of Dhaka and last day’s programme was held in AIUB. In total 32 papers from local and international participants were submitted in the conference focusing on issues ranging from media’s role in shaping people’s identity to creative industry’s preparedness to face the challenges posed by the fourth industrial revolution.
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