In the year 2000, member states of the United Nations saluted the new millennium by pledging to partner against extreme poverty in its many faces:  income lack, hunger, disease and inadequate shelter.  At the same time, they agreed to promote gender equality, education, and a sustainable environment. These universal ideals they parceled into eight goals which they named the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs for short. Achieving the MDGs by 2015 provides the theme for the AMIC international conference this year.

Besides development goals, our conference theme pulls in two other collectivities as well: media and societies.  We can analyze the interrelationships among these three in our common region of the Asia-Pacific. Two of them - media and societies - are said to be changing.  So if in a flattened world media and societies are seen to be in rapid flux, can development goals be far behind?