Story by Fairstars Mukungurutse
THE Russian Federation has expressed its commitment to enhancing cooperation with Zimbabwe in the media sector.
A delegation from Russian news agency, Ruptly, met with Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary, Mr Nick Mangwana in Harare this Thursday.
While reaffirming commitment to the long-standing relations between Zimbabwe and Russia, the discussions focused on enhancing cooperation in the field of media services through joint projects.
“There is no current penetration of Ruptly in Zimbabwe, but this explorative visit will make sure that that situation changes. As a ministry, we support that very much. We want our media, both private and state media, to have alliances and partnerships across the globe, and also with those countries with whom ideologically we are aligned. We have an MOU with the Russian government where our media services are expected to cooperate, and this is part of the actualisation of the MoU,” Mr Mangwana said.
“During this visit, they will also meet the private media so that the Zimbabwean story will be told in foreign lands through a friendly voice, and the Russian story will be told in our jurisdiction through us as a friendly voice as well.”
Speaking on the partnership, Ruptly’s Chief Executive Officer, Ms Anna Semidotskaya, highlighted the longstanding friendship between the two nations and the agency’s role in fostering closer ties through media collaboration.
“Russia and Zimbabwe for a long time have been in a very close friendship. Ruptly, being a part of Russia Today family, we are the first Russian video news agency, we see our mission to support these high-level relations and take them to greater heights in the changing media landscape,” she said.
“Today’s meeting with the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services of Zimbabwe and with the participation of Zimbabwean media was very fruitful and we explored new perspective for partnership. There were a lot of inspiring human stories in Zimbabwe which resonate deeply with the Russian audience. We are going to continue distributing such content in Russia and work together with Zimbabwean side on joint media projects and events.”
The partnership offers a platform to showcase Brand Zimbabwe to the international community and this resonates with the Second Republic’s engagement and reengagement drive.
