Conference of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) is set to kick off its meetings later here today within its 14th session. With the attendance of a number of Korean important personalities, the agenda of the conference will conclude two keynote speeches and two working sessions addressing the challenges posed by the new media age on the official and private news agencies. The Conference brings together 45 news agency and Union of news agencies and the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) is represented at the conference by Ahmed bin Ibrahim Al-Awad, Director of News Department. The Conference looks forward to enhancing the inner-relationships and ties of exchange and cooperation in the fields of news, technology and training among the agencies under the umbrella of OANA that was founded in 1961 at the initiative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) by nine Asian news agencies, now expanded to include more than 40 news agencies from 33 countries. The conference also witnesses the participation of the Association of Balkan News Agencies (ABNA); the Alliance of Mediterranean News Agencies (AMAN); European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) and the Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA). The Conference includes a photographic exhibition participated by more than 40 news agencies where examples of instant photos, reflecting the cultural, heritage, sports aspects and events covered over the last years. On other hand, Mayor of Seoul held on Wednesday evening a reception ceremony in honor of General Directors of news agencies, unions and their representatives, during which many welcoming speeches were delivered. On this regard, President of Yonhap News Agency Park Jung-chan and Mayor of Seoul delivered two speeches in which they expressed hope that the conference, being hosted by Yonhap and coincided with the 30th anniversary of its establishment, would benefit the participating national, regional and international news agencies at their news and professional levels.
