AUB - ASBU's New Centers of Content Exchange will be inaugurated before end of 2022 in Algiers

Prior to this historic event, a mission led by the African Union of Broadcasting’s Chief Executive Officer met with the Algerian Minister of Communication on Wednesday, May 11, 2022.

In Bouchaoui, Algiers, a brand New Building came into existence a few months ago. The progressive infrastructure jointly houses two Centers of Program and News Exchange. One belongs to the African Union of Broadcasting (ABU) and the other, to the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU).

As a prelude to this event which crystallizes all the attention, a mission led by the AUB’s CEO, Grégoire Ndjaka, is presently in Algeria.

On Wednesday, May 11, 2022, AUB’s emissaries held talks with the Algerian Minister of Communication, Mohamed Bouslimani, in the presence of the Director General of the Algerian National Radio, Mohamed Baghali, the Director General of the Algerian Public Establishment of Broadcasting (TDA), Rachid Bestam, as well as the Minister’s close collaborators.

“We hereby express our gratitude to the People and the President of the Republic, His Excellency Abdelmadjid Tebboune, for the quality of the infrastructure granted to us within the framework of the program exchanges project. This headquarters is a junction between sub-saharan Africa and the Arab world. For the first time in history, AUB and ASBU Media Professionals will be working on the same site for the good of our respesctives populations. This is an unprecedent event”, AUB’s CEO declared at the end of the audience.

“This Center will allow our respective countries not only to convey the image of Africa but also to place us at the forefront of development. We cannot achieve common goals if we don’t put our strong points together,” the minister of Commnuication said, while stressing “the need to coordinate and further strengthen media cooperation between Algeria and all African countries.”

AUB’s center of content exchange aims to be a common ground of cooperation between African countries and the rest of the world. It will host audiovisual production units, operating offices and a Data Center on the history of Africa accross the years, the AUB CEO explained.

During the visit to the headquarters on Tuesday, May 10, 2022, the AUB mission had the opportunity to inspect all the Building’s compartments in the presence of ASBU’s Center of Content Exchange Director General, Mohsime Karim Slimani. A brief presentation was made by the engineers on the project and the Director General of TDA.

The overall project covers a surface of 2,860 m². The two centers are built without a basement and comprise a ground-floor and 3 storey on 500 m² of land. The ground floor is dedicated for common use consisting mainly of energy rooms and a communication room between offices and technical rooms. It has an elevator, centralized air conditioners, a fire safety system and other microstructures dedicated to audiovisual industry.

In Bouchaoui, the AUB’sCEO praised the efforts made by the stakeholders of this construction project, which began in February 2019 in the presence of the Directors General of ASBU and AUB, the representatives of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) , the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) and COPEAM.

Despite the lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the engineers continued pushing hard in order to deliver an infrastructure that meets the standards defined by TDA. Main construction works were terminated on October 13, 2021.

Irene Gaouda, Special Envoy in Algiers