The Executive Secretary of Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Dr Workneh Gebeyehu, and the Minister of Communication of Djibouti, H.E Radwan Abdillahi Bahdon, yesterday inaugurated a meeting of the national public media outlets from the regional organisation’s member countries.
The two-day meeting is bringing together officials from the Ministries of Information/Communication and ICT, Directors and Managers of national broadcasters, news agencies and papers.
In his welcome remarks, Dr Workneh Gebeyehu, IGAD Secretary Executive encouraged the media outlets to keep on reporting about the challengesthe region is confronted with “in such a way people are made aware of these for the purpose of addressing them. “I encourage you to widen your coverage beyond the national boundaries and go regional to tell our story/stories to each other and to the rest of the world. It’s in this respect that IGAD Secretariat brought you together, among other things”, he added. “In essence, the Memorandun of Understanding and the digital platform we are contemplating are means for the IGAD story to be told, and for the national media to link up with counterparts to go regional for multilateral matters involving IGAD member countries”, were his word before inviting the Minsiter of Communication of Djibouti to the podium.
In his opening speech H.E. Radwan Abdillahi Bahdon, Minister of Communication, in charge of Posts and Telecommunications stated: ” This meeting is of paramount importance to strengthen our regional cooperation in the field of media and information. I am convinced that this digital platform that we are going to launch today will open new perspectives for the rapid and effective dissemination of news and information concerning the activities of IGAD and our region.”
The main aim of the workshop is for national media outlets to review and finalise a draft MoU, which is meant to facilitate exchange of original content pertaining to IGAD regional activities, projects/programmes, bilateral/trilateral/cross border cooperation activities and any other material deemed fit for exchange by the media outlets. In view of the establishment of this exchange digital platform, an MoU is to be signed as the meeting closes today.
The expected outcomes include:
A shared understanding of how structured each party is;
Areas of cooperation and activities of common interests identified;
Privileged relations in terms of information sharing and news coverage of IGAD activities, bilateral and multilateral cooperation as well as trans-boundary projects/programmes between MS;
An exchange digital platform established;
An IGAD National Media Focal Point at each MS is designated; and
MoU signed for implementation
Source: EMM/ IGAD