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BEIRUT, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) kicked off here Monday its international conference entitled "Media Spreading Civilizations and Connecting Dialogues" under the patronage of Information Minister Melhem Riachy, in the presence of Xinhua's Middle East Regional Bureau Chief Zeng Hu representing President of Xinhua News Agency Cai Mingzhao, among other global media representatives.
Riachy announced in his speech "the end of traditional media times and the beginning of a new era."
Pledging a new age of communication extending from the year 2020 to 2030 and beyond, Riachy stressed the media sector's objectivity, transparency and truthfulness.
"We stand before a major revolution that will soon take over the world. This revolution has been achieved owing to media and communication. It has thus turned the world into a global village," the minister said.
"Let Beirut's media be nontraditional. Let the city be a platform for communication between all; why not between Syrians, why not, later on, between Saudis and Iranians. Let there be communication and dialogue in Beirut between all conflicting parties... Why have dialogues in Geneva or Astana or Kazakhstan and not in Beirut?" Riachy stressed.
He asserted that "Beirut, the capital of the Arab world and its front door to the world, shall restore its former role through this ministry of dialogue and communication which will soon have strong infrastructure and logistics that will enable it to host any dialogue, be it local, regional or international."
Zeng Hu is to deliver a speech on behalf of Cai Mingzhao at the conference in the session entitled "Cross border cooperation between media outlets" due to take place Tuesday.
