Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union secretary-general Ahmed Nadeem praised the level of Hong Kong and mainland broadcast expertise on Monday, saying their experience would help raise standards across the region's airwaves.

Speaking on RTHK's Backchat programme, he said the mainland sector's technological level in play is "seriously impressive”.

State broadcasters, Nadeem added, have implemented advanced technology across different stages of the broadcasting chain, marking a major shift from traditional broadcasting systems.

Citing state broadcaster CCTV as an example, he said the pace of transformation on the mainland has been remarkable when compared with some countries that still rely on older broadcast infrastructure.

“If you go to countries like Bangladesh or Pakistan, you still see the old traditional set-ups," whereas on the mainland "the level of change you see from traditional broadcasting set-ups to those [countries] is remarkable,” he said.

Nadeem also pointed out that Hong Kong has clear strengths in the use of technology, content creation and development.

He said the city's broadcasters are not only aware of international training concepts but already applying many of them in their daily practices.

"When you talk about broadcasting and media, the way they [Hong Kong and the mainland] approach and the way the kind of technologies they have, they use in creating content, in developing content, and broadcasting by itself is really an opportunity for others to come and learn," Nadeem said.

He said this makes the SAR an important source of expertise for less developed broadcasting markets in the region.

Collaboration, he added, will remain essential as broadcasters compete with global streaming platforms and artificial intelligence, stressing that traditional broadcasters still have deep archives, production expertise and strong public trust – assets that can be strengthened through regional cooperation.

Nadeem also commended the performance by Hong Kong universities that took part in the ABU Robocon 2026 over the weekend, saying they "bring new knowledge to the scene".

"The way they work and how they've done, how they have approached the project is very different from smaller countries or universities," he said.

"It's a huge opportunity for everybody to actually see because they all work in their own universities, they're not coming and talking to each other when they're designing the robots," he said.

Nadeem said teams had different approaches, strategies and points of views, designing their robots based on their backgrounds and experiences, and that this will ultimately promote creative and technological changes among them.



Edited by Tony Sabine