Raghu Menon new chairman of Inter-Governmental Council of IPDC

New Delhi, Mar 25 (PTI) Secretary in India's Ministry for
Information and Broadcasting Raghu Menon has been elected as
Chairman of the Inter-Governmental Council of the
International Programme for Development of Communication
(IPDC).
"This is for the first time in the history of IPDC that a
developing country assumes the chair of the Inter-Governmental
Council of the IPDC. Since its inception, the chairmanship had
always remained with developed countries," a statement issued
by the Ministry said Thursday.
IPDC is the multilateral forum in the United Nations
system, designed to mobilise the international community to
discuss and promote media development, especially in
developing countries.
It is supervised by the Intergovernmental Council, set up
in 1980 and composed of 39 member states elected by UNESCO's
General Conference. The Council is responsible for
policy-making, guiding the planning and the implementation of
the programme.
India's candidature was endorsed by Asia Pacific Regional
Group and supported by countries from Africa, Arab and Lain
American Region. India emerged as the winner by bagging 23 out
of 37 votes as against Switzerland, which got only 14 votes.
In his acceptance speech, Menon thanked the members of
the Inter-Governmental Council for reposing faith in his
leadership and assured his full commitment for strengthening
programme implementation under IPDC's mandates. PTI ASI
KAB