APPENDIX
IV
REPORT BY THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF
TO THE 17TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE
IN
1. Membership
There has been no change since the 16th and Extraordinary General
Assembly of
2. The
The financial situation of
Ø Five pages showing the situation
of the
Ø Three pages showing the situation
of the
Ø A statement of two pages showing
the payments of membership contributions for the years 2005, 2006, 2007 and
2008 by
As stated in the financial report, the
As stated in the financial report, the
Membership contributions are still pending for the following:
Ø JANA (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)
Ø NNA ( 2007, 2008)
Ø TANJUG (2007, 2008)
Ø STA (2008)
The agencies below informed the Secretary General that the
2.000 US dollars each will be given in cash at the 17th General
Assembly in
Ø AA (2008)
Ø ANA (2008)
Monthly bank statements for the
3. Follow-Up
Committee
Since the 16th and Extraordinary General Assembly, the Follow-Up Committee met:
1.
In
2.
In
4. Training seminars
4.1 A training seminar for journalists from member agencies of
4.2 Based on a decision taken by the 16th General
Assembly held in
Four agencies (AMI, EFE, MAP,
AMI
Ø
La réalisation
d’actions intenses de formation au cours des années 2007
et 2008 pour les journalistes et les
techniciens.
Ø
La formation du
personnel des deux journaux quotidiens (arabe et
français) édités par l’AMI.
Ø
L’organisation de
sessions de formation au profit des correspondants
régionaux.
Ø
L’élaboration d’une
charte graphique pour les deux journaux.
EFE
Ø
Proposal launched by the French President on
the creation of a Mediterranean Union.
Ø
Mediterranean problems.
Ø
Environmental matters, like water, global
warning, energy.
MAP
Ø
Internet and multimedia editorial techniques.
Ø
Techniques of business news reporting.
Ø
Parliamentary journalism.
Ø
Conception of photo and video reporting.
Ø
Implementation of computer-drawn graphics in
news stories.
Ø
Environment and sustainable development.
SANA
Ø
Economic bulletins.
Ø
E-press.
Ø
Investigative reporting.
Ø
Website contents.
4.3 At the invitation of the
Mr. Holloway presented the recently founded AFP
Foundation, a non-profit organization, which trains journalists, using AFP
resources. It has organized courses in different languages for print, radio and
television staff from
Mr. Holloway said the AFP Foundation is ready
to accept proposals from
4.4 CNA is studying the possibility of hosting a
high-level conference/seminar on topics such as Euro-Mediterranean cooperation,
Mediterranean Union, illegal immigration in
5.
The Secretary General sent member agencies a
circular on 17th December 2007, inviting entries to the competitions
for the best news item and the best photo, to be submitted to the Secretary
General of
The Secretary General distributed to the FUC
members, copies of the entries received by the deadline. There were five entries to the best news item
competition (AFP, APS, EFE, MENA, TANJUG) and ten entries to the best photo
competition (AA, AFP, AMI, APS, CNA, EFE, HINA, MENA, TANJUG, TAP).
The representatives at the FUC meeting in
Lisbon of LUSA, EFE, APS and CNA, decided to award the prize for the best news
item to TANJUG. The winner is Mrs Vera
Raskov-Djurovic for her news story titled “Save the children, all of
them…”. The FUC also decided to award
honorary certificates for their entries to AFP (Zeljka Bilandzija) and to APS
(Yacine Loutari). The winning news item
will be published in
The FUC decided to award the prize for the best
photo to the entry by Mr. Domenech Catelló of EFE for his photo of a Romanian
immigrant dying of flames in the middle of the street in protest of his
family’s economic plight. The FUC also
decided to award honorary certificates for their entries to AMI (Ahmed Ould El
Hadj) and TAP (Raouf Ben Romdhane). The
winning photo will be posted on
In accordance with the rules of the
competitions, the host agency of the General Assembly, LUSA, invited the
winners of TANJUG and EFE to pay a one-week visit to
The winners (TANJUG, EFE) will receive a
diploma signed by LUSA Director General, who will act as President of
The certificates for the others (AFP, APS, AMI,
TAP) signed by LUSA Director will be received by the representatives of their
agencies.
6. NNA
report on
The webmaster is studying the possibility to
make easier the handling of the
7. Newsletter
The Secretary General has circulated to
8. WCNA
On the sidelines of the WCNA proceedings, the members of the
9.
Acting on a General Assembly decision,
Mr. Nylen informed the Secretary General that
he raised the matter with EANA Board and that the EANA Bureau said that it was
in favour of signing such an agreement, in accordance with guidelines
suggesting that EANA could have such agreements with other agency pools that
had members who were also members of EANA. This type of agreement opens up for
inviting a maximum of two persons as paying guests at EANA conferences etc.,
i.e. expenses are covered by participants themselves. When such invitations are
issued by EANA, the
The agreement to be signed between
The FUC proposes the signing of such an agreement
which could be signed by the Presidents of
10. OANA General Assembly
In accordance with a cooperation agreement
between
Both Mr. Mehal and Mr. Penintaex addressed the
OANA General Assembly and had a series of meetings with OANA members. Both
addresses and the
The Turkish News Agency, Anadolu, which is also
an
11. ITIM
As authorised by the General Assembly in
The communication with ITIM was
unsuccessful. The Israeli Ambassador to
12. ACN
As authorised by the General Assembly in
13. MINA
The News Agency of Montenegro, MINA, has
applied for membership. The completed
questionnaire is attached as APPENDIX V.
14. MIA
The Macedonian Information Agency, MIA, has
applied for membership. The completed
questionnaire is attached as APPENDIX VI.
As decided by the 15th General
Assembly, all founding members and observers would be honoured with a special
certificate, on the occasion of the 15th Anniversary of
16. JANA
The Secretary General has repeatedly tried
directly and through the Embassy of Libya in
According to the
The Secretary General sent JANA a reminder
letter dated 7 January 2008, that its membership contributions for the years
2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 were still outstanding.
In the same letter, the Secretary General
recalled articled 4 of
The Secretary General asked JANA Director
General to fix the amount due before the FUC meeting in April 2008, warning
that “in the unfortunate case that JANA does not respond the matter will be
raised at the meeting of the Follow-Up Committee and the General Assembly in
June 2008 for a decision.”
The FUC members discussed the matter and agreed
to propose the inclusion of this issue on the agenda of the General Assembly in
Mr. Mehαl contacted JANA but the Libyan agency has not yet responded.
Mr. Penintaex met with a Libyan Embassy
official in
17. 18th General Assembly
In order to keep the geographical rotation, the
next agency to host the General Assembly (18th), after LUSA, must
come from the southern shores of the
18. A note
of thanks
The Secretary General thanks:
a)
APS for holding the
b) LUSA for hosting the 17th General Assembly.
c) The Follow-Up Committee members for their cooperation and guidance since the 16th General Assembly.
d)
APS - Organizers of the seminar in
e)
NNA which acts as the webmaster of
f) The member agencies which contributed to the Mednews bulletin and Newsletters.
g) All member agencies and observers for their cooperation and keeping high the spirit.
George Penintaex
Acting Director/Editor-in-Chief CNA
Secretary General
GP/MM