KUNMING -- The Global South Media and Think Tank Forum 2025 opened Friday in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan province, bringing together hundreds of scholars and officials in a bid to amplify the voice of developing countries on the world stage.

The five-day gathering, held under the theme "Empowering Global South, Navigating Global Changes," is the second edition following a previous one in Sao Paulo, Brazil last year.

About 500 representatives from more than 260 institutions across 110 countries, as well as international and regional organizations, are set to take part.

The agenda focuses on building consensus on peace, identifying new drivers of development, broadening cooperation and advancing dialogue among civilizations.

BUILDING CONSENSUS THROUGH DIALOGUE

It is believed that in the face of global changes of the century, pursuing modernization and working for a more just and equitable international order are the sacred historic missions of Global South countries and the common issues of the times for Global South media and think tanks.

Last November, the first forum in Brazil issued the Sao Paulo Declaration, calling on media and think tanks in the Global South to resolutely advocate for the group's common interests and continuously boost its voice and influence in global affairs.

In July, the BRICS Media and Think Tank Forum and the SCO Media and Think Tank Summit were held respectively in Brazil and China, further broadening consensus and providing intellectual support for countries in the Global South.

Leonardo Attuch, editor-in-chief of Brazil 247, who attended the Sao Paulo forum and has registered for the Kunming event, said the media play a key role in improving the global governance system and amplifying the voice of the Global South.

"In just one year, we have already seen deeper and more structured dialogues among Global South media, further amplifying the voices of Global South countries and transforming the traditionally Western media-dominated hegemonic narrative," said Attuch.

FOR SHARED DEVELOPMENT

In recent years, the Global South has seen its influence grow significantly. Accounting for over 40 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) and contributing as much as 80 percent of global growth, the Global South is a key force for maintaining world peace, driving world development, and improving global governance.

China has always been a member of the Global South, a reliable long-term partner of fellow developing countries, and a doer and go-getter working for the cause of global development.

From Asia to Africa, Latin America to the Pacific, China collaborates with Global South countries to advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, building roads, bridges and harbors, crucial infrastructure for economic prosperity. "Small and beautiful" livelihood projects, such as the Luban Workshops and hybrid rice cultivation, have taken root across Global South countries, supporting their modernization efforts.

Nassar Abdulkareem Nassar, deputy director of media affairs at the Iraqi News Agency, emphasized China's role as a Global South member in advancing practical cooperation. "In Iraq, China's support has enabled numerous landmark projects and livelihood programs," he said.

The practical cooperation with China has provided a continuous impetus for development across the Global South, including Iraq, added Nassar.

The world today is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, and the collective rise of the Global South is becoming a defining feature of this transformation.

Media and think tanks in the Global South are not only a disseminator of the Global South's voice and a chronicler of the changing times, but also a shaper of the Global South's image and a promoter of a more just and equitable international order.

Fabio Manzini Camargo, special assistant to the Brazilian Minister of Health, told Xinhua that this forum helps strengthen collaboration among media and think tanks in the Global South, enabling audiences to understand the reality of contemporary society from the perspective of the Global South.

ANSWERING CONTEMPORARY QUESTIONS

Today, a shared mission facing Global South countries is to break the Western-dominated global public opinion pattern, and establish their own subjectivity and power of discourse.

The world is increasingly valuing the voices of Global South countries, and the international community has realised that without listening to the demands of the majority of humanity, world peace cannot be maintained, let alone achieve sustainable development for all humankind, said Fidel Alejandro Gomez Vega, vice president of Cuba's Prensa Latina News Agency.

The Global South is emerging as a powerful force driving peaceful development and building a more just international order, the media executive added.

Global South media and think tanks should become the voice and conscience of the diverse societies, providing in-depth analysis, advocating constructive narratives, and shaping a balanced global discourse system, said Dzhoni Melikyan, head of the International Relations Research Department of the Public Relations and Information Center under the Office of the Armenian Prime Minister.

Against the backdrop of escalating geopolitical conflicts, their collaboration is crucial, added the Armenian official.

Ahmad Ismayilov, executive director of the Media Development Agency of Azerbaijan, said that the media play a vital role in spreading objective and reliable information, so that Global South media outlets must become the bridge between policymakers and people.

Media of the Global South must invest in digital transformation, train and adopt artificial intelligence tools, and establish intercontinental alliances to amplify the voice of the Global South, Ismayilov said.

During the forum, two signature documents are scheduled to be released -- the Yunnan Consensus, a joint pledge to expand cooperative production of news and analysis, and a research report on China's contribution to global public intellectual products, which distills best practices from the country's South-South initiatives.

The event also marks the formal launch of the Global South Joint Communication Partnership Network, which features more than 1,000 media outlets, think tanks and other institutions across 95 countries and regions.