———— South Asian Editors also hold closed-door RTC during the event
———— SSAMN also launches Media Excellence Awards Saga
———— Event attracts around 200 media representatives from 20 South and Southeast Asian countries to participate
———— Dozens of annual cooperation Accords inked during the event
———— The 2026 Global Mayors Dialogue also in Xishuangbanna in line with SSAMN moot
———— SSAMN event participants and Global Mayors also get a detailed trip to famous Wild Elephant Valley
Report By Eman Alam
The 2026 episode of the South and Southeast Asian Media Network (SSAMN) members was held at Kunming, Capital city of China’s Southwestern Yunnan province on July 14 with over 200 International and local Chinese media persons participating and representing 20 South and Southeast Asian countries. The event was jointly organized by Yunnan International Communication Center for South and Southeast Asia and China Daily’s Asia-Pacific Branch and of course with patronage of Yunnan provincial government.
During the 2-Day event, around two dozens of cooperation agreements were signed, focusing on joint productions, tourism promotion, academic exchanges and youth programs, with the aim of creating flagship projects with regional identity and international influence, The agreements included collaboration between The Daily Mail International (Pakistan) and Southern Observation, and the cooperation between the Yunnan Provincial Museum and the China-Cambodia Cultural Corridor. Mainstream media outlets and industry associations from multiple countries, including China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, India, and Nepal, gathered here to expand the “circle of friends” for international communication.
The event featured an opening, a musical story party titled “Wind at 22°C: Melodies & Memories”, a seminar titled South Asia Amid Profound Changes Unseen in a Century, three parallel dialogues titled Dianchi Talk Beyond Coffee, and a roundtable forum for China-South & Southeast Asian media outlets. It is pertinent to mention here that the SSAMN was formally established in January, 2024 and within just a limited time span, it now has more than 170 partner institutions, with aim to facilitating cooperation through resource sharing, technological innovation, and people-to-people exchanges, with activities including annual meetings in Kunming, joint project initiatives, and collaborative content production leveraging Yunnan Province’s strategic position as a gateway to South and Southeast Asia.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of 2026 edition, the Information Minister of the Yunnan Provincial Government and b head of the publicity department of the Yunnan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China Ms. Zeng Yan emphasized on regional Cooperation and shared narratives, In her speech, the Minister hailed the SSAMN platform for enhancing regional relations, joint Media endeavors and shared perceptions as well as mutual understanding amongst the South and Southeast Asian States.
In her address, the minister further stated that the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative and the Global Governance Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping, saying that they provide guidance for responding to global challenges and promoting international cooperation. She further observed that over the past three years, the regional media network had expanded its membership, improved its mechanisms, established a liaison office, released annual work plans and promoted practical cooperation and stated that Yunnan was very closely connected with South and Southeast Asian countries by geography, people-to-people ties and shared cultural links, creating many stories worth telling and sharing. The Minister stressed on enhanced cooperation in artificial intelligence-assisted news production, multilingual intelligent translation, cross-platform distribution, short-video production and data journalism, so that authentic, diverse and warm regional content could be produced more efficiently and have more precise reach and broader dissemination. The opening ceremony also witnessed remarks and presentations by the representatives from the All-China Journalists Association and China Daily. Deputy Publisher of China Daily, Zhu Baoxia, in her address, underscored the SSAMN’s growth and ambition. “It has built an important platform for exchanges and cooperation that promotes regional connectivity and mutual learning among civilizations,” asserted Zhu.
Zhu also elaborated China Daily’s long-standing mission to “bridge China and the world”, citing that the “Run with History” series, launched in 2019, has been held in historical cities including Bagan in Myanmar, Ayutthaya in Thailand and Luang Prabang in Laos, attracting more than 13,000 participants.
She said that using sports as a bond and culture as a vehicle, a down-to-earth and warm platform for people-to-people friendly exchanges was successful established. She further said that guided by the Belt and Road Initiative and China’s four global initiatives, connectivity, trade ties and shared interests between China and South and Southeast Asian countries have continued to deepen, creating a path of open, inclusive and mutually beneficial development.
Zhu Baoxia urged upon the network members to strengthen cooperation and contribute to regional prosperity.
During the event several parallel discussion sessions were also held, mainly focusing countering the menace of fake news and misuse of Artificial Intelligence. In these sessions matters of utilizing AI for value added use in media, matters pertaining to enhance regional media cooperation and take take more steps for regional integration were also discussed in detail while many accords and MoUs were also signed for these discussed matters’ materialization.
During the event, SSAMN also launched the Excellence in News Awards the awarding of these Awards will commence from next year in various categories on annual basis.
The SSAMN event got paired with another important event in Yunnan and it was the Global Mayors’ Dialogue at the tropical city and tourists’ Resort of Xishuangbanna on 16th and 17th of this month, just at the end of the SSMAN event and was also attended by almost all the participants of SSAMN event.
Under the theme “Rainforest & Home: Coexist, Co-create, Share,” the dialogue brought together representatives from countries such as China, Myanmar, Laos, Nepal and Sri Lanka to engage in discussions on ecological conservation, sustainable urban development and international cooperation.
The event welcomed guests from Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan, India, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka and many other countries, alongside representatives from Chinese central and local governments, international organizations, businesses and media.
In his inaugural Address, Governor Dao Wen of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture shared the prefecture’s experience in balancing ecological conservation with economic development.
He highlighted five key initiatives: rainforest protection, rainforest restoration, rainforest return, forest-city integration, and environmental governance. These efforts have helped raise the region’s forest coverage to over 74%, protect more than 90% of nationally protected wildlife species, and promote cross-border biodiversity conservation with neighboring Laos.
During two panel discussions, Mayors and City Leaders from Myanmar, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Shanghai exchanged experiences on sustainable urban governance. Topics included biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, tourism development, heritage preservation, flood prevention, green infrastructure and community participation.
Participants agreed that while cities face different geographical conditions and development challenges, they share common goals of protecting natural resources, improving people’s livelihoods and promoting inclusive growth.
The event concluded with the signing of two letters of intent establishing new friendship-city partnerships between counties in Xishuangbanna and districts in Laos, marking another step toward deeper cross-border cooperation under the spirit of the Lancang-Mekong partnership.
On the sidelines of the event, participants visited local rainforests, museums and rural communities to gain firsthand insights into Xishuangbanna’s efforts in biodiversity conservation, cultural preservation and rural revitalization. Drawing on these exchanges and experiences, the Xishuangbanna Initiative was introduced, outlining a shared vision for greener, more inclusive and interconnected urban development.
The initiative calls for greater efforts to protect rainforests, rivers and biodiversity, while promoting green and low-carbon industries and exploring sustainable approaches to unlocking the value of ecological resources.
It also highlights the importance of strengthening industrial connectivity by leveraging regional advantages in agriculture, forestry, cultural tourism, intangible cultural heritage and trade, as well as facilitating cross-border cooperation and creating more opportunities for local communities.
The guests also paid an infotainment visit to the famous Velly of Wild Elephants and got briefings on Asian Elephants and biodiversity conditions in the area while they also watched the wild elephants families.
During this visit, Makhdoom Babar, President and Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Mail in Pakistan, said China had made tremendous efforts to protect Asian Elephants and conserve biodiversity, noting that people are increasingly drawn to natural landscapes as well as urban development while Masood Khalid, former Pakistani Ambassador to China, said he saw a family of wild Asian elephants, including a baby elephant, during the visit. He praised China’s efforts to preserve natural habitats and protect the species. Killapanage Don Parakum Shantha, Mayor of Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka, said Xishuangbanna offers “a good example” of balancing economic development and environmental protection.
