China's carmaker BYD opened a new plant in Thailand on Thursday, which is its first plant in Southeast Asia, with its eight millionth new energy vehicle (NEV) rolling off the assembly line in the factory.
The plant based in Rayong Province can produce 150,000 passenger vehicles annually. Covering car-making operations including stamping, painting, welding and final assembly, plus a component factory, the plant completed the construction and went into operation in just 16 months.
The eight millionth new energy vehicle also marks that BYD has become the world's first automaker to have eight million new energy vehicles manufactured.
"BYD is recognized in the Thai market in merely two years. It has been a sales champion of pure electric vehicles in Thailand for 18 months since January 2023. Nowadays, one in every three pure electric cars sold in Thailand is a BYD car. We look forward to bringing advanced new energy vehicle technology to Thailand to upgrade its automobile industrial chain," said Wang Chuanfu, chairman and chief executive officer of BYD.
With its expansion in overseas market, BYD has its new energy vehicles sold in more than 400 cities in 88 countries and regions in the world.
"In the first half of this year, BYD sold 1.607 million new energy passenger cars. Among them, more than 203,000 vehicles were sold overseas, a year-on-year surge of 173.8 percent. It has maintained a strong growth momentum," said He Zhiqi, vice president and chief operating officer of passenger vehicles of BYD.
BYD opens its first plant in Southeast Asia
Senior representatives from major regional news media organizations, gathering at the ongoing 12th Global Video Media Forum (VMF) in China, say they are looking to amplify the voices of the media in the Global South to help consolidate cooperation and friendship in an ever more challenging global environment.
The forum opened in Quanzhou in east China's Fujian Province on Tuesday, bringing together 200 media representatives from over 60 countries and regions in the historic coastal city.
By working more closely together, media organizations in the Global South can reap rewards that might otherwise be unavailable, according to Ahmed Nadeem, Secretary-General of the Asia-Pacific Broadcast Union.
"If we work together, there is an opportunity for us to bring out the best from these Global South countries who have much less resources," he said.
Other media representatives at the VMF stressed that in challenging times, it is even more important for developing countries to have their voices heard on the global stage.
"[The Global] South media have a lot of responsibility to build a new opinion," said Issoufou Sare, Director-General of BF1 Television.
"[The media can provide] solutions for misunderstandings or stereotypes. So the media have a major role. They can bridge our cultures and make us know each other better," said Feten Fardi, head of Arab and International Cooperation Unit, Arab States Broadcasting Union.
The event also witnessed the launch of the "Global South Media Dialogue and Cooperation Mechanism and Joint Initiative," a program to support closer cooperation led by China Media Group.
"That will help to promote our voices, our realities to make the world know better about our customs, realities, about our history, about our culture, customs, about our problems, but also our achievements," said Martin Hacthoun, chief editor of Press Latina News Agency.
The two-day VMF is being held under the theme "Intelligence Without Frontiers, Vision Beyond The Horizon -- Media's Role in Communication and Cultural Exchange."
Launched by the CCTV Video News Agency (CCTV+) in 2011, the VMF is an annual professional journalism forum focusing on the latest trends and innovations in news and journalism, which provides a highly specialized, unique and interactive platform for domestic and foreign media peers.
Media groups aim to amplify voice of Global South at VMF
