By Rohani Mohd Ibrahim
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 (Bernama) -- The Organisation of Asia Pacific News Agencies (OANA) will hold online workshops on new technologies and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the first time for journalists of member agencies, said OANA’s secretary-general Zaman Rezakhani.
“The (OANA)’s executive board authorised the secretary-general to hold two online workshops on digital technologies and on AI before the upcoming General Assembly (in Russia) on June 21.
“The exact time on the online workshops will be announced soon,” he told Bernama after the 54th OANA Executive Board Meeting here, Monday.
Bernama was represented by its chief executive officer Datin Paduka Nur-ul Afida Kamaludin and editor-in-chief Arul Rajoo Durar Raj in the meeting.
Elaborating on the meeting, Zaman – who is also the Director of International Relations of the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) – said the executive board members reviewed OANA’s activities in 2024, including the two competitions organised for the categories of best photo awards and best article awards.
“What we are going to do this year is to hold more competitions to engage more member agencies. Last year, we had photo competition, and the theme was only cultural heritage and tourism.
“This year, we decided to have more categories and more topics, namely economy, sports, environment, (and) many other categories; so it would be more inclusive actually for both photo competition and article competition,” he said.
Asked if OANA plans to get more agencies to join the organisation, Zaman replied that new members should make formal requests to join the organisation.
“There are some news agencies that are talking to OANA, and if the process is complete, we will put (it) forward in the next General Assembly. General Assembly approves a new member. It is the duty of the General Assembly to vote for new members,” he said.
“There are some news agencies that are in discussion; let me not tell the names until the process is finished. There is at least one news agency applying for membership,” he added.
OANA was established in 1961 on the initiative of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) to facilitate direct and free news exchange among news agencies in a region that accounts for over half of the world’s population.
OANA currently has 41 member news agencies from 33 countries, with 13 agencies serving on its Executive Board.
The OANA EBM is held annually, with the last meeting hosted in Russia.
The 54th OANA EBM brings together representatives from 13 international news agencies, namely the Islamic Republic News Agency (Iran), Yonhap News Agency (South Korea), Azertac (Azerbaijan), TASS (Russia), Anadolu Ajansi, Xinhua (China), WAM (United Arab Emirates), Kyodo News (Japan), Qatar News Agency, Vietnam News Agency, Montsame (Mongolia), Perusahaan Umum Lembaga Kantor Berita Nasional or ANTARA (Indonesia) dan MEHR News Agency (Iran).
-- BERNAMA
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