VIENTIANE, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Over 1,000 foreign media personnel from 256 media organizations around the world have registered to cover the ASEAN Summits next week held in Lao capital Vientiane, officials in charge said on Friday.
Lao Ministry of Foreign Affair's Press Department reported that the online register for foreign media opened on August 10 and closed at the end of last month with the total number of registered foreign media personnel jumping to 1,030.
The highest registered number of foreign media was from Japan (184 personnel), followed by South Korea (152), China (144), the United States (92) and Thailand (60).
ASEAN member nations including Vietnam (42), the Philippines (42), Singapore (31), Myanmar (28), Malaysia (26) and Indonesia (22) also assigned a high number of media to cover the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits which will be held back-to-back from September 6-8.
In addition, 37 media personnel from Russia have registered to report on the event as well as those from Australia (33), Britain (25) and India (16).
The biggest number of registered foreign media personnel is from NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) with a group of 58, followed by Japan's FUJI TV (42), Chinese CCTV (41), CNN (40), AP (28), NBC News (28) and Xinhua News Agency (28).
Other major organizations sending large media contingents include TV Asahi (26), Nippon Television (24), Asahi Shimbun (22), Kyodo News (20), Reuters (15), AFP (14) and BBC (7).
Officials in charge from the Press Department have confirmed the readiness of the Foreign Media Center (FMC) which will be located at the International Cooperation and Training Center (ICTC).
The media center will be equipped with internet accessible PCs, internet connections for laptops, host signal area, satellite transmission area, media booths and other facilities including a refreshment area, according to Lao state-run online newspaper Vientiane Times.
Additional vehicles will be available for journalists who want to commute between the media center and the National Convention Center which is considered the main venue for the summits.
When Laos hosted the 10th Asean Summit and its related meetings in 2004, around 800-900 foreign media personnel came to Laos to cover the event.
