Leaders of Asian newspapers are gathering in Bangkok this week for a majorstrategic summit meeting to discuss the key issues facing newspapers in theregion. (boxun.com)

The chief executives of nearly 30 leading newspapers have been invited toparticipate in the 2nd Asian Newspaper Leaders Summit, organised by theWorld Association of Newspapers and hosted by the Nation Multimedia Group.

The gathering, to be held from 3 to 5 November, brings together the leadersof some of the most prestigious and best known newspapers, news agencies,newspaper associations and universities from 13 countries in the region.

They include: The Daily Star, Bangladesh; South Express Daily and People'sDaily from China; Mid-day, Rajasthan Patrika, The Statesman, MalayalaManorama, and The Hindu from India; Suara Karya Daily, Suara PembaruanDaily, Waspada Daily and Kompas from Indonesia; The Asahi Shimbun and theJapanese Newspaper Association, NSK, from Japan; the Maeil BusinessNewspaper, Yonhap News Agency, the JoongAng Ilbo and the Korean NewspaperAssociation from Korea; the New Straits Times, Utusan Melayu and StarPublications from Malaysia; the Dawn and Jang groups from Pakistan; thePhilippine Daily Inquirer; Singapore Press Holdings, The Straits Times andIFRA Singapore; Wijeya Newspapers from Sri Lanka; the Min Sheng Daily fromTaiwan; and the Post and Nation newspapers and several universities fromThailand.

The event will be chaired by Thanachai Theerapattanavong, Chairman & CEO ofthe Nation Multimedia Group, Thailand, and Seok Hyun Hong, the President ofWAN and Chairman, Publisher and CEO of JoongAng Ilbo in Korea.

The aim of the Bangkok conference is to give special focus to variousaspects of Asian newspaper markets and for Asia's newspaper leaders to bebriefed on important strategic issues for the future of newspapers.

In addition to the Bangkok Summit, WAN will bring its biggest event to theregion next year: the 58th World Newspaper Congress, 12th World EditorsForum and Info Services Expo, the global meetings of the world's press, tobe held in Seoul, Korea, from 29 May to 1 June 2005(http://www.wan-press.org/seoul2005/).

Presentations at the Asian Newspaper Leaders Summit include:

- Trends in the Asian Press Markets: A report on circulation andadvertising, by Timothy Balding, Director General of WAN.

- Future Perspectives: Key Strategic Issues for Newspapers in Asia, theresults of a new survey of Asian newspapers, by Jim Chisholm, Director ofthe Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project (SFN).

- The Future of Commercial Communications, by Andre Nair, Chairman and CEOAsia Pacific of Mediaedge:cia.

- A session on circulation growth that will feature the findings of twostudies on circulation success conducted by the WAN SFN project, and a casestudy of the Kom Chad Luek by Thanachai Theerapattanavong, Chairman & CEO ofNation Multimedia Group.

- A session on format changes featuring a checklist for publishersconsidering format change, by Eamonn Byrne, Deputy Director General of WAN,and the case study of the New Straits Times in Malaysia, by Hardev Kaur,Group Editor of the New Straits Times.

- A session on profitable digital strategies that includes ideas and tacticsfrom a new WAN strategy report in the Shaping the Future of the Newspaperproject and case studies on making money from mobile from Sandy Romualdez,President of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and Sang-Jun Kown, Manager ofthe Strategic Planning Office for the JoongAng Ilbo in Korea.

The WAN Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project identifies, analyses andpublicises all important breakthroughs and opportunities that can benefitnewspapers all over the world. More information can be found athttp://www.futureofthenewspaper.com.

WAN conducts the SFN project with support from six international partners --PubliGroupe, the Swiss-based international advertising and promotion group;MAN Roland, a leading company for newspaper production systems; UPM-Kymmene,one of the world's leading printing paper producers; Unisys, a leadingsupplier of mission-critical solutions, services and innovative technologyto the publishing industry; Telenor, the leading Norwegiantelecommunications, IT and media group; and Samsung Electronics, a globalleader in semiconductor, telecommunication, and digital convergencetechnology.

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry,represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 72 national newspaperassociations, individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 13 newsagencies and ten regional and world-wide press groups.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue GeoffroySt Hilaire, 75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 4948. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr (boxun.com)