43rd OANA meeting to be held in Tehran on Sep 7

Hosted by IRNA; Tehran, Aug 31, IRNA – The 43rd meeting of the executive board of Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) will be hosted by Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) in Tehran on September 3. The day-long meeting will be attended by heads and senior officials of 19 news agencies from Russia, Republic of Azerbaijan, China, Qatar, Turkey, Oman, Mongolia, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Japan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bulgaria, and the Iranian Mehr News Agency. Most of the participating news agencies are members of the executive board, and some are invited as the observers and special guests in Tehran meeting. The OANA was founded in 1961 with the goal of facilitating information dissemination in the region, supported by the UN cultural entity, the UNESCO. The organization covering two thirds of the world population has now 44 members from 35 countries of Asian and Oceania. Iran, as a long-standing member, has been the rotating president in 1997-2000. The period was followed by a term of vice-presidency until 2016. The country is now a member of OANA executive board. The last (16th) general assembly of OANA was held in Azerbaijan's capital city, Baku, in 2016 to submit the presidency to the Central Asian country. At Tehran meeting, South Korea is expected to assume the rotating presidency for the coming three years. The executive board comprises of 13 members with Azertac, ITAR-TASS, Xinhua, Yonhap and Anadolu as its current board of directors members. 1378/IRNA