The conference is being organized by the London School of Public Relations (LSPR) in cooperation with the ASEAN Public Relations Network and the Global Alliance of Public Relations and Communications Management.
"The conference aims to share best practices on public relations and communication to prepare the ASEAN to move ahead to continue its journey as it celebrates its 50th anniversary this year," LSPR's Director and Founder Prita Kemal Gani remarked at the opening of the 2017 ASEAN PR Conference here, Thursday.
"The ASEAN is a promising growth center for the worlds top corporations, institutions, and organizations from various countries, and several development sectors must place the ASEAN on their prosperity radar," she stated.
Hence, Gani believes that the ASEAN must be ready and literate in translating global opportunities to visit, invest, trade, and exist in the region.
"Indonesia, as one of the founding fathers of the ASEAN, should lead in the areas that we excel," she added.
The ASEAN also has abundant national resources and is home to 600 million people living in the most stable economic and political environment in the world.
"PR and communication play a major role in disseminating information and helping the government in each country to bring about a transformation in the people, to create connectivity, and to promote friendship and mutual collaboration," Gani explained.
She added that professional PR and communication practices should be able to help the people of ASEAN remain in the drivers seat.
"The ASEAN should be people-centric as defined in the ASEAN Communication Master Plan," Gani emphasized.
Gani suggested that PR and communication professionals should employ new approaches to reach out to 600 million people in the region, as the bloc has a new audience, relations, tools, and standards.
The two-day ASEAN PR Conference being held on September 21-22, 2017, is expected to endorse friendship and togetherness, increase understanding of each other's barriers, as well as strengthen leadership and competitiveness, based on rich culture and wisdom.
"This is ASEAN's time. Most of the time we learn western PR, but now is the time for us to learn from each other," Gani noted.(*)
Reporter: By Libertina Widyamurti Ambari
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
