The Association of the Balkan News Agencies - Southeast Europe (ABNA-SE) will be headquartered in Bulgaria and Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) Director General Kiril Valchev will be its Secretary General for three years. This decision was made with an absolute majority by the 30th ABNA-SE General Assembly, hosted by BTA in Burgas on Monday.
Greece's ANA-MPA Director-General Aimilios Perdikaris was elected ABNA-SE President. The next General Assembly will be held in Thessaloniki in the spring of 2023.
Also on the Board of Directors are ABNA-SE outgoing President Skender Krasniqi, who is owner of KosovaPress, and Anadolu Agency Director General Serdar Karagoz. The rotating presidency will go to Turkey in 2024.
ABNA-SE will be registered in Bulgaria and will have its registered office at BTA. The General Assembly adopted the ABNA-SE Statutes, based on the principles enshrined in the Statutes of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA).
"This is a great recognition for Bulgaria because there are not many registered international organizations [in this country]. Eleven countries in the Balkan Peninsula have joined in and we have an observer from Italy, part of which is also in the Balkans, we expect it to join in as well," Valchev said.
In his words, the organization could expand further, with Moldova, Georgia and Armenia joining current members Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, Romania and Turkey.
/NZ/
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