Prof. Dr. Vu Van Hien

President, The Voice of Vietnam (VOV), Vietnam

Prof. Dr. Vu Van Hien has been the President of the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) since 2002. He has over 30 years experience in journalism. Before joining VOV, he was the Editor-in-chief of the Communist Review (theoretical and political agency of the Communist Party of Vietnam). He’s the author of several books on media and political theory. He also served as a member of the Party Central Committee (the 10th tenure) and Deputy to National Assembly (the 12th legislature).

Hon. Thoyyib Mohamed Waheed

President of AIBD General Conference & Minister of State for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Department of Information, Maldives

Hon. Thoyyib Mohamed is the State Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister of Maldives and the current President of the AIBD General Conference. He also chairs Maldives’ Marketing & PR Corporation in charge of marketing tourism and investment opportunities in the Maldives. He served as Vice-President of the South Asian Free Media Association and the President of the Maldives Media Association from 2007/8 December. He holds a Master of Arts in broadcast and film management, Bournemouth University, UK and a Bachelor of Arts in TV production from Charles Sturt University, Australia.

Mr Janis Karklins

Assistant Director-General, Communication and Information Sector, UNESCO

Janis Karklins is the Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information of UNESCO. He previously served as Latvian Ambassador to France, Andorra, Monaco and UNESCO, as well as the Permanent Representative of Latvia to the United Nations in Geneva. Prior to his Geneva post, he served as the Undersecretary of State in Latvia. He has an Engineering degree from the Riga Technical University in Latvia and attended an executive education program at the Hoover Institute, Stanford University, USA. He previously served as Chairman of the Governmental Advisory Committee of ICANN, former President of the Preparatory Committee of the Tunis Phase of the World Summit on the Information Society.

Nguyen Thien Nhan

Deputy Prime Minister of the Socialist Rebublic of Vietnam

Ban Ki-moon

UN Secretary-General

Mr Yang Binyuan

Director, Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD)

Yang Binyuan is the Director of the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD). He has 20 years of national and international experience in broadcasting and media management, having worked at China Radio International (CRI) in various capacities in the field of news and current affairs, sports, channel management and international cooperation. He was Head of Broadcast of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG). He holds a BA. Degree in History from Peking University.