Nirupama Rao to launch MEA and PD Division websites on Friday

NEW DELHI - Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will launch the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Public Diplomacy (PD) Division websites at 3 p.m. on Friday.

Joint Secretary (Public Diplomacy) of Ministry of External Affairs (MHA) Navdeep Suri had earlier on December 11 said that India realises the need to have its presence in social media.

Addressing people at a two-day conference on ‘Public Diplomacy in the Information Age’ here, Suri said: “We took an initial decision that very quickly we had to ramp up our presence in the social media. We started initially with the Twitter account which, I believe, at that time was the first for any Government of India department, maybe still is, and a Facebook page, and then a YouTube channel, and so on.”

“Where we are going with this and trying to make sure that there is a digital convergence of all content that we produce. It doesn’t mean we stop publishing Indian perspectives in 17 languages but it means making sure that each edition is available on online websites, on online publishing websites,” he added.

During the conference, experts said India is on its way to becoming a global power if it uses its soft power assets.

The conference addressed both challenges and opportunities provided by the proliferation of new media along with new tools. (ANI)