19th OANA General Assembly Kicks Off in St. Petersburg

The 19th General Assembly of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) is underway in St. Petersburg, Russia. The gathering, which brings together 41 news agencies from 33 countries, is being hosted by the TASS news agency as part of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

At the opening plenary session, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov read a message from President Vladimir Putin addressed to the participants. Messages from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications Melissa Fleming were also presented during the session.

A panel discussion on the theme 'News Agencies and the Challenges of the Modern World' was held with the participation of TASS Director General Andrey Kondrashov, First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman, Xinhua President Fu Hua, Bernama CEO Nur-ul Afida Kamaludin, and others.

As part of the Assembly, a photo exhibition featuring images from OANA member agencies was opened. The event was attended by Maria Zakharova, Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In addition, winners of OANA's photo and article competitions were announced and awarded.

The OANA Executive Board also held a meeting during the assembly, where key issues were discussed and decisions were made through a voting process.

The General Assembly will continue its work on 20 June.

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