FANA, ANSA sign cooperation agreement

The Federation of Arab News Agencies, FANA, and Italian News Agency, ANSA, signed an agreement to increase co-operation at the conclusion of the forum for representatives of Arab and European news agencies in Rome on Friday.

The two news organisations agreed to deepen relations and dialogue on major problems, common challenges, and the new frontiers of journalism and technology at a meeting at ANSA’s headquarters in Rome.

FANA's President and the Director-General of Kuwaiti News Agency, KUNA, Sheikh Mubarak Duaij Al-Ibrahim Al-Sabah, and ANSA's CEO and General Manager Giuseppe Cerbone on Friday signed the document, called 'Declaration of Rome,’ at a meeting in the Italian capital.

The Emirates News Agency, WAM, delegation was led by Abdullah Abdul Karim, Director of the Media Coverage Department.

The declaration's main objectives include a more significant and concrete co-ordination on major current and future challenges of journalism, a 'Commission on Dialogue' between Arab and European news agencies with ANSA as a central point of contact and reference, forums on terrorism and meetings on technology to underline the increasingly fundamental role of news agencies in the era of globalisation and the Internet.

The 'Declaration of Rome' cites the value of news agencies as the ''main source of trustworthy information," stressing their contribution to ''peace and security at a local, regional, national and international level," especially in relation to ''growing misinformation and propaganda."

In this context, the editors in chief of Arab news agencies met in Rome with the management of ANSA for a two-day forum, on Thursday and Friday, ''with the objective of discussing available means for co-ordination between the two sides in numerous and diversified fields'' to ''exchange information'' for development of the media and to ''undertake an important role in the fight against terrorism."

In a statement to KUNA on Saturday, Sheikh Mubarak Al-Duaij, also Director General and Chairman of the Board for Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) said that the event was an opportunity for Arab and European agencies to reconnect and share experience and views on vital issues.

During the two-day forum hosted by the Italian News Agency (ANSA), Arabs presented their points of view on information and ideas published by European news agencies on conditions inside the Arab World, said Sheikh Mubarak.

European officials on their part, expressed their approval on such points, noting that they were eager to provide a transparent coverage of terrorism news and never relate it to the religion of Islam, he said.

The two sides also agreed on cooperating in fighting media which promotes extremism, hatred and violence, he added.

WAM also participated in the forum held under the theme, "The Future of News Agencies and Their Role in Combating Terrorism."

In this context, FANA and ANSA have agreed, in the future, on the importance of ''highlighting the need for greater co-ordination between national news agencies in Europe and Arab news agencies'' with the objective of ''discovering the available possibilities on both sides to promote the principles of democracy, human rights and social, economic and cultural development."

ANSA will have a role as a point of contact between FANA agencies and major European agencies to develop this dialogue. Such a role will include promoting meetings to develop reciprocal knowledge and new concrete initiatives.

For this reason, the joint declaration provides for the creation of a ''Commission of Dialogue'' between the two sides, that can be a ''framework for the organisation of annual meetings to exchange ideas and information'' on the evolution of news agencies.

The document stresses the need to ''organise forums'' between European and Arab news agencies to understand how they will ''undertake an important role in fighting terrorist ideology."

FANA and ANSA then stressed the importance of the technical and technological aspects of news agencies and decided to organise ''a meeting between the two groups'' to ''exchange ideas and information'' on this issue.