The XI Eurasian Media Forum, which has become a familiar brand not only in Kazakhstan, but beyond its borders as well, was held in Astana from 25 to 26 April 2013. The Eurasian Media Forum is a noticeable international media initiative, the purpose of which is to support the professional development of Eurasian mass media and to disseminate information on the distinctive features of Eurasian regional development. In 10 years, the Eurasian Media Forum evolved into a high-profile event not only for the general public of Kazakhstan, but for representatives of the whole international media community.

Representatives of the media and business, as well as experts from different countries took part in the forum’s activities. For several days they were discussing the current problems. The topics addressed at the Media Forum include the development of information community in the vast Eurasian territories, the prospects for expansion of the Customs Union and for building the ‘green economy’.

The Media Forum was opened with a speech by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev.

As you know, Kazakhstan’s capital city Astana was chosen for holding the international EXPO exhibition in 2017, with the Future Energy as its main topic. We have already started preparing for it. We expect to have many guests, many journalists, and we would like to demonstrate to them what Kazakhstan is looking forward to and what it is capable of”, – noted Nursultan Nazarbayev in his welcoming speech to the participants of the Eurasian Media Forum.

“We are going to adopt the ‘green economy’ program.” I think that the whole world is focused on this, because the cutting-edge innovations essentially mean the transition to the ‘green economy’. There is no place for obsolete technologies in the ‘green economy’. I invite all the countries, the business circles, the media to take the most active participation in the preparatory work for holding the EXPO-2017”, – said Nursultan Nazarbayev in conclusion.

The issues of mainstream politics – Kazakhstan’s leadership in the anti-nuclear movement – were also discussed in the course of the meeting. As was noted by the Media Forum’s Organizing Committee chairperson Dariga Nazarbayeva: “The discussion held today in this room will be useful both from the point of view of developing our understanding of the main media trends and for finding ways of further development of the mass media industry as a whole”.

Thus, there were different opinions voiced with respect to the concept of the Eurasian Economic Union. It was discussed what lessons could be learned from the current crisis of the European Union. Besides that, discussion was focused on the EXPO-2017 exhibition. This meeting’s participants included the Environment Protection Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nurlan Kapparov, the EU Ambassador to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan Aurelia Bouchez and other experts. The discussion participants shared their views on the feasibility of creating a ‘green economy’ in Kazakhstan in the foreseeable future. In this context, such issues as further development of the Green Bridge domestic initiative and energy industry prospects on the global scale were also touched upon.

At one of the panel sessions of the forum, prominent media managers, journalists and experts discussed the mass media and social networks’ influence on the global political climate. And of course, this event couldn’t pass without discussion of the issues of information security and media trends of the 21st century.