World Broadcasting Unions held joint Meeting in Khartoum
The gathering aimed at reinforcing cooperation in areas like TV production, news exchange networking, technical and technological development. It took place at the Al Sadaqa Hall, in the Sudanese Capital-City of Khartoum on the sidelines of the ASBU’s 39th General Assembly.
The 39th General Assembly of the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) held from the 10th to the 12th December 2019 marked a crucial point in the life of four broadcasting unions: The African Union of Broadcasting (AUB), the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the ASBU.
The GA kicked off on Tuesday December 10, 2019 at Al Sadaqa Hall, in the Sudanese Capital-City of Khartoum, in the presence of Sudan’s Prime Minister, Dr. Abdullah Hamdouk, the Minister of Culture and Information, Mr Faisal Muhammad Salih, Representatives of ASBU member corporations, heads of political parties, members of the diplomatic corps, and national and international media leaders.
Notwithstanding ordinary activities, the four institutions, members of the World Broadcasting Union (WBU) held a joint meeting, giving way to a total review of the strong relationship existing in the field of TV production, news exchange networking, technical and technological development, among others.
A project on Climate Change Adaptation and Disasters Risk Reduction
The African Union of Broadcasting was represented at the event by its CEO. With his peers, Mr Grégoire Ndjaka took a step forward in the drafting and the materialization of an unskilled project focused on Climate Change Adaptation and Disasters Risks Reduction.
To this effect, the AUB, EBU, ASBU, and ABU proposed a common project to the UN with the aim of reinforcing the capacities of journalists in covering stories on natural disasters and climate change. The project also aims at fostering Media Professionals in raising awareness on environmental issues and climate adaptation in Africa and across the world; breaking down the taboo between media and scientists so as to get an insight of all measures taken today by scientists to prevent natural disasters and all other climate change challenges; building a network of Communication Specialists in order to permanently share information around these topics; improving communication and doing proper follow-up on environmental issues. Within the framework of this project, the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) has been designated as the WBU’s Focal Point with the UNESCO and other key Partners.
Networking
Participants to the Joint Meeting also praised the positive relationship existing between the ASBU and the AUB. In 2018, the two Unions signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which paved the way to the putting in place of a Network of Programs Exchange. The first phase of the project consisted of two Training-workshops in Algeria which lead to a fast assimilation with system and, as result, the number of exchanged reach more than 1 500 news topics, 114 sports topics and 4 programs focusing on various aspects of the daily life of the African citizens. In line with this project, the AUB and the ASBU promised to revive the AUBVision, in 2020, in order to enable it become part of the global flow of news.
