India signs agreement with Egypt for content exchange

India and Egypt have agreed to facilitate content exchange, capacity building, and co-productions between Prasar Bharati and National Media Authority of Egypt.

The MoU or memorandum of understanding was signed by Anurag Singh Thakur, union minister of information and broadcasting, youth affairs and sports and Sameh Hassan Shoukry, minister of foreign affairs, Government of Egypt.

The MoU is part of the efforts by Prasar Bharati to expand the reach of DD India channel to show-case the country’s progress through programs focused on economy, technology, social development and cultural heritage, the government said in a statement on Wednesday. Under the ambit of this MoU, both broadcasters will exchange programmes across genres like sports, news, culture, entertainment and many other areas on bilateral basis and these will be telecast on their radio and television platforms, the statement added. The MoU which will be valid for three years will also facilitate co-productions and training of officials of both the broadcasters in the latest technologies.

Public service broadcaster Prasar Bharti currently has 39 MoUs with foreign broadcasters for cooperation and collaboration in the field of broadcasting. These provide for exchange of programmes with foreign broadcasters in the field of culture, education, science, entertainment, sports, news and so on. These also provide for co-production opportunities related to themes of mutual interest and knowledge sharing through training.

Prasar Bharati is India’s state-owned public broadcaster, headquartered in New Delhi. It is a statutory autonomous body set up by an Act of Parliament and comprises the Doordarshan Television Network and Akashvani All India Radio, which were earlier media units of the ministry of information and broadcasting.