By Citizenship Daily
Citizenship Media Limited, publishers of Citizenship Daily, Citizenship Weekend and Citizenship online newspapers has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the Chinese Xinhua news agency to deepen Global South cooperation.
The pact was sealed in Abuja on Tuesday.
Representative of Citizenship, Dr Saidu Abubakar, and the Nigeria Bureau Chief of Xinhua, Yang Zhe signed on behalf of their repsective media houses.
Both signatories expressed commitments to materialise the letter and spirit of Global South media pact.
Global South is a group of countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania, often characterized by lower levels of economic development, higher levels of poverty, and historical ties to colonialism or neo-colonialism.
In contrast, Global North is more developed, wealthier nations in Europe and North America.
The Global South Media Forum seeks to amplify the voice and influence of the Global South countries, foster wider dissemination of information across political, economic, cultural, and social spheres, and bring greater attention to Global South issues.
Currently, the Global South is growing in prominence and playing an increasingly vital role in advancing human progress.
The parties in the Abuja agreement were drawn together by a common vision and shared objectives, and have expressed their intent to cooperate on a Jointly agreed communication partnership programme.
The Objectives of the Cooperation require both parties to further enhance collaboration and jointly endeavor to:
(1) Be Guided by information sharing and collaborative communication, amplify the voice of the Global South, advocate for a more equitable and orderly multipolar world, and promote inclusive and equitable economic globalization.
(2) Jointly establish a Global South Media News Network to facilitate information exchange and resource sharing, thereby enhancing the effectiveness and reach of information dissemination pertaining to the Global South.
(3) Deepen practical cooperation across diverse fields within the framework of the Global South Media and Think Tank Forum.
Information sharing is based on the principles of equality, voluntarism, mutual complementarity, and win-win cooperation.
Both parties will contribute content to the Global South Media News Network to support its development.
Content contributions will include, but are not limited to the publication of reports and case studies, leveraging the platform and resources of the Media News Network.
Both parties will disseminate research reports, project case studies, and industry analyses encompassing political, economic, cultural, social, and environmental dimensions of the Global South to a global audience.
Also, both parties will strengthen communication based on mutual interests, actively explore potential collaboration in areas such as channel integration, product representation, and specialized consulting services.
The secretariat for the Global South Joint Communication Partnership Programme will be established at Xinhua News Agency. It will be responsible for day-to-day liaison among partner institutions, facilitating information exchange, coordinating operations, and collecting feedback on collaborative efforts.
Partner institutions will receive priority invitations to the Global South Media and Think Tank Forum held regularly, as well as to related workshops and training programs.
The Forum and the Media News Network will serve as platforms for partners to share high-quality project resources.
Through in-depth communication and collaboration, partner institutions will work to forge industry consensus, synergize efforts, and contribute to a more robust media ecosystem in the Global South.
