Tehran, Oct 19, IRNA

Iran-Tunisia-Media Cooperation
Tunisian Ambassador to Tehran Moldi al-Sakeri in a meeting with the Managing Director of the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) Ahmad Khademolmelleh here Wednesday called for broadening of media cooperation between the two countries.

The Tunisian diplomat hoped that through expansion of communication between the media of Iran and Tunisia the grounds would be prepared for further bolstering of relations in various fields.

"Given the broad news coverage of the media affiliated to the arrogant powers against Islamic countries aiming to create discord in the world of Islam, the Islamic news media should have closer contact with one another.

"While the Western media use all their potentials to sow the seed of discord among the Muslim countries by using modern media facilities, solidarity and development of close relations among the news media of the Muslim world is inevitable," he added.

Criticizing some of the Muslim media, either consciously or unconsciously acting in line with the benefits of the West, he noted that strong bonds among Muslim news agencies would be effective in preventing the enemies of Islam from materializing their objectives.

Turning to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to be held in Tunisia in November, he hoped that the Iranian media, in particular IRNA, would give it a proper coverage.

He referred to the following objectives of the upcoming summit : reduction of the communication gap between developed and developing countries would prepare the grounds for developing countries to benefit from modern communication technologies and prevent the abuses of the US and West from such technologies.

The diplomat pointed to the crucial role of the media in development of closer bonds between the governments and nations and thanked IRNA’s efforts to broaden constructive exchanges and communications among Muslim states.

Concerning the victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the election, he hoped that during the term in office of the new government, Iran-Tunisia relations would expand in various domains.

Meanwhile, he invited Khademolmelleh to visit his country.

For his part, Khademolmelleh expressed satisfaction with the outlook of the Tunisian ambassador on the need for Iran-Tunisia inter-media communication and said that expansion of ties with the world countries is high on the agenda of the president’s foreign policies and is of high priority.

He noted that political development and more solid ties among countries requires change of thoughts, adding that undoubtedly transformation of intellect would be impossible without access to the latest news and information.

He referred to the decisive role played by the media in the relations between governments and nations and said that in establishing inter-state ties, the media stand on the front line.

Khademolmelleh pointed to the growing trend of news communication and media coordination between IRNA and the news media of the Islamic states as one of the new policies of IRNA’s new management and said, "We are trying to give more momentum to our media ties with Muslim countries.

"Given the determination of the political officials of both countries to bolster media collaboration, Iran-Tunisia cooperation in the sector would undoubtedly be in the interest of the two nations and governments." He referred to 28 years of exchange between the official news agencies of Iran and Tunisia and hoped that during his managerial term at IRNA, news relations would further expand within a new framework.

The IRNA managing director referred to support of the Muslim world as the general spirit of the media activities in Iran and urged that the news media of the world of Islam should get united against the news coverage of the West.

After the meeting, al-Sakeri, who has been in Tehran for four years, inspected IRNA news room and its various news desks and was briefed on the process of news production.

News sent : 17:51 Wednesday October 19, 2005