News agencies are a powerful tool not only to build a bridge between people, but they also promote understanding and unity through the dissemination of accurate and truthful information, said Serdar Karagöz, President of the Association of Balkan News Agencies - Southeast Europe (ABNA-SE) and Anadolu Agency Director General, in his address during the closing conference of the "Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future" project in the Bulgarian seaside resort of Albena on Saturday.
"As media and information agencies, we have a certain responsibility", he noted, adding that strengthening the cooperation of the media in the Balkans plays an extremely important role for regional peace. "To succeed with a future media ecosystem, we need to create a cross-border platform", he pointed out.
According to Karagöz, the possibilities of digital transformation should be used to create dynamic and interactive content through innovative projects. He also mentioned the need to discuss Artificial Intelligence and its impact on the media sector.
He noted that a meeting of the General Assembly of ABNA-SE is coming up in Istanbul, which is an important platform that can unite and promote peace and stability in the Balkans. He also said that BTA Director General Kiril Valchev is expected to propose a project for the creation of a Balkan Newsroom.
The project Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future builds on the previous project titled Europe in Bulgaria: A Common Future. With the new project BTA has put a special focus on the implementation of successful European programmes. Among the objectives were a better understanding of the role of cohesion policy, including in the Balkans; raising awareness of projects funded by the European Union through the Cohesion Policy; promoting an open dialogue on the results of its implementation at local level, as well as citizens' participation on issues related to cohesion policy.
Within the Project's framework, BTA has organised six cross-border conferences, six regional conferences and over twenty local conferences.
/MT/
