JAKARTA, Dec. 12 (MNA) -- It is time for the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies to expand its news coverage throughout Asia, Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) Deputy Director Ahmad Jafari said on Tuesday in his speech to the 13th OANA General Assembly in Jakarta, Indonesia.

“We all know that more than half of the world population is still following a unilateral way of receiving information which has been flowing from North to South and from West to East over the past 60 years,” Jafari told the OANA meeting.
However, through regional unity, South-South cooperation, and development of information and communication technology this trend should be stopped and replaced with a bilateral and balanced method, he added.
He also said news agencies play a key role in disseminating information and therefore OANA members, which represent two thirds of the world, can surely be very influential on the challenges facing the media.
“This requires expansion of practical cooperation between the members.”
Strengthening regional news federations such as Non-Aligned Movement News Network (NNN), Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA), International Islamic News Agency (IINA), and members of International Forum of News Agencies: Coalition for Peace will be very influential in development of bilateral flow of information, he noted.
OANA, which was established by UNESCO in December 1961, currently has 41 members from 33 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
The purpose behind the establishment of the organization was to promote cooperation between news agencies within the region and all over the world.
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