Work and celebrations will mark ABU 50th Anniversary General Assembly
Urgent debates about the future of broadcasting in the Asia-Pacific will be interspersed with special 50th Anniversary events when the ABU holds its General assembly in Macau later this month.
The eight days of workshops, seminars, meetings, forums and official proceedings will draw together many hundreds of leaders in broadcasting and related industries from around the world to the Conrad Macao from 22-28 October 2014.
ABU Secretary-General Dr Javad Mottaghi says delegates will need to grapple with some of the most pressing issues ever facing the media, including how to make digital technologies work best for audiences and how to face the growing challenges of the Internet and social media.
“By assembling many of the best minds from our region and around the world, I believe we can together track a path through these challenges,” he says.
As well as the serious business of advancing broadcasting in the Asia-Pacific, the General Assembly will also take time to mark the Union’s half-century of existence.
A special song about friendship and unity has been produced by two member organisations collaborating across more than 8,000 kilometres on opposite sides of the Union’s vast area, with music provided by Elieen Yoonjung Cho for KBS-Korea and lyrics by award-winning composer Figen Cakmak for TRT-Turkey.
Two other members – ABC-Australia and NHK-Japan – have produced special radio and television documentaries respectively, recording the Union’s growth and development from its first tentative steps in 1964.
Again this year, one of the highlights of the General Assembly will be the ABU Television Song Festival, a gala show featuring some of the best performing artists from around the Asia-Pacific. The concert on 25 October 2014 will be produced and recorded by GA host Teledifusao de Macau (TDM) and offered to all ABU members free for broadcast.