By NNN-Bernama,
Tehran : Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has underlined the need for solidarity among the media in the Asia-Pacific region and for them to disseminate accurate news and information.
They should circulate “the message of friendship, peace and brotherhood of all nations throughout the globe”, he said when he paid a surprise call Sunday on the Executive Board and editorial and technical experts of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) who were meeting in Tehran.
More than 40 representatives of 18 member agencies, including those from Malaysia, Russia, Japan, China, South Korea, Indonesia and India, attended the meeting, which was held under the theme “A quest for global media balancing”.
The Iranian News Agency, IRNA, quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that the media influenced by Western powers had a one-sided approach towards certain issues such as the fight against terrorism, Zionist attacks on Gaza and opposition to the production and expansion of weapons of mass destruction.
Formed in 1961 on the initiative of UNESCO, OANA aims to secure direct and free exchange of news between the news agencies of a region inhabited by more than one-half of the world’s population.
On Iran’s nuclear programme, Ahmadinejad said the legitimate right of the Iranian nation was not negotiable.
Voicing Iran’s readiness for constructive co-operation with Western states in the area of nuclear technology, he said nuclear co-operation with Iran would benefit the West.
The OANA delegates also met Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki on Sunday night and made a one-day trip Monday to Shiraz, “the city of poets, flowers and gardens” in the southwest of Iran.
Meanwhile, host Mehr News Agency (MNA) has signed co-operation agreements with Bernama, the Malaysian national news agency, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency and Antara news agency of Indonesia.
Bernama was represented by General Manager Hasnul Hassan while MNA Managing Director Parviz Esmaeili signed on behalf of the Iranian agency.
According to the agreements, the news agencies would co-operate in exchanging news and in the technological and training fields.