By Bernama,
Moscow : The 10th jubilee World Congress of the Russian-Language Press opens at the World Trade Center here on Wednesday.
About 1,000 participants in and guests of the congress from 65 countries have been invited to attend the congress, Alexander Klein, Executive Director of the World Association of the Russian Press (WARP), has told Itar-Tass news agency.
More than 200 Russian and foreign journalists have been accredited to cover the congress proceedings.
The forum will deal with the present-day state of the Russian-language press abroad and the role of the Russian language in the development of the world civilisation. A speech of greetings at the opening ceremony is to be made by Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, who arrived in Moscow at the invitation of the Russian news agency.
At least 300 million people around the world speak Russian and almost 350 million understand it .
The Russian language is fourth-prevalent one among the languages of the world. The Association currently unites almost 400 media in more than 80 countries.
Those are Russian-language media that are diverse in purpose and scope, ranging from major television channels, news agencies, newspapers, and magazines to small, thematic editions.
The most widely-representative delegations, Klein said, have been sent in by Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Representatives of the Russian-language media from Canada, Australia, the United States, South Korea, Peru, etc. will also participate in the congress.
The directors of news agencies that are partners of Itar-Tass have also arrived here at the invitation of the WARP organising committee.
These are from China, Japan, Iran, Kuwait, Syria, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Greece, and a number of other ones.
Besides, tens of the founders of media Internet projects will also take part in the congress for the first time.
“This is also one of manifestations of the spirit of the times. Internet media develop both in Russia and abroad in a particularly active way,” the WARP Executive Director said.
“Notwithstanding all the complexities of globalisation, one just cannot fail to notice the mounting influence of the foreign Russian-language press in their countries and in the world as a whole,” Klein pointed out.
He cited Latvia as an example in this respect. Overthere, “the number, circulation, and quality of the Russian-language press have greatly exceeded the Soviet-era indicators,” he said.
The WARP was established in June 1999 at the first World Congress of Russian-Language Press.
“The WARP is the world’s first alliance of its kind. Other countries, Bulgaria, in particular, have followed our example.
A similar organisation has been founded there. The WARP is not a formal union. We have no membership fee or strict rules. The only condition is not to foment ethnic strife, not to propagandise violence,” Klein said.
“Any socially active and socially significant Russian-language media projects may join our Association,” Klein emphasized.