site.btaBTA Proposes that European, Arab News Agencies Meet in Bulgaria in 2024

During the opening of the 49th General Assembly of the Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA) in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) Director General Kiril Valchev proposed that European and Arab news agencies meet in Bulgaria in early 2024. Valchev is in Abu Dhabi in his capacity as President of the News Agencies World Council (NACO) as well.

FANA Secretary General Farid Ayar proposed that every two years meetings be held between FANA and European news agencies that are members of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA).

BTA is a EANA member.

Ayat recalled that FANA used to organize meetings between Arab and European news agencies but the practice was discontinued after 1989. Between 1976 and 1989, five such meetings were held in Tunis, Istanbul, London, Prague and Tunis.

"Of all European countries, Bulgaria is closest to the Middle East and a gateway for Arab countries to Europe, so it is a natural candidate to host the first meeting of European and Arab news agencies once this practice is resumed," Valchev said. 

The BTA director general met and discussed cooperation initiatives with the heads of the 15 FANA news agencies (of Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen and Tunisia).

Speaking at the opening of the FANA General Assembly, Valchev called for pragmatic cooperation between European and Arab news agencies. He presented BTA's experience with making all its its news free for users and said that is a tool against fake news. He suggested that partner European and Arab should follow suit as this would allow Europeans and Arabs to get to know each other better. "Lies must be fought with more truth - not with restrictions such as shutting down the Internet, mobile apps, media or other restrictions on information," Valchev said in his remarks at the forum.

He also briefed the participants on the new agreement between BTA and the Emirates News Agency, signed in September 2022, whereby the two news providers exchange one news item daily. He suggested to all FANA-affiliated news agencies adopt the practice of sharing one news item daily in addition to the access to their full news feeds. "An ocean of news is the same as information blackout: you can drown in news and the right to information can perish just as in information blackout and censorship. That's why news agencies need to help each other as editors to navigate what's most important in our countries," Valchev said.

Valchev suggested that European and Arab news agencies should also start a systematic exchange of journalists and think of joint staff training.

Also addressing the FANA forum as guests were the Secretary General of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) Alexandru Giboi, Press Association Chief Executive Clive Marshall, dpa President Peter Kropsch and TASS Director General Sergei Mikhailov.

The 49th FANA General Assembly is being held on the sidelines of the World Media Congress in Abu Dhabi, organised by the Emirates News Agency. Participating are over 1,200 representatives from 170 media outlets and companies from 29 countries around the world.