Kosovo will welcome the news agencies of the 12 Balkan countries to the 29th Assembly within the Association of the Balkan News Agencies – Southeast Europe (ABNA-SE). This event is organized by KosovaPress News Agency and the main topic of this edition will be "Media and news agencies in the post-COVID era".

The opening will take place on Thursday, starting at 19:00 in the outdoor areas of the National Museum, while it will continue on Friday with roundtables organized with various panels with representatives from all agencies and the Electoral Assembly where new structures will be elected. During the days of stay, there will also be a visit to some of the tourist places, to introduce the culture and heritage of the country. The general director of KosovaPress, Suzana Rakovica, recalled the time when lobbying for membership began, which was hindered by countries that do not recognize Kosovo's independence. According to her, it took KosovaPress three years of campaigning to finally join ABNA in 2017, and now the goal remains membership in the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA). Rakovica: Membership in ABNA-SE has been difficult "It has been a very long lobbying of KosovaPress, since 2014, when we were participants as observers or guests. We have some media that are observers there, and where proposals are made to be part or member of the ABNA-SE. The membership has been very difficult because the countries that have not recognized Kosovo, did not want Kosovo to be part of the ABNA-SE, and have opposed us for three years. We had a very difficult time, because neither Serbia, nor Bosnia, nor Greece recognized us, so we had many obstacles, especially from Serbia, to be part of this organization. KosovaPress is lobbying to be part of the organization in Europe, that is EANA, where we will be part of that organization very soon", she said. This event was scheduled to take place last year but due to the pandemic situation, it was postponed to this year. But, unfortunately, even this time, Kosovo is in an aggravated situation, causing the number of participants to be limited and the activities to take place with both physical and virtual presence. However, leaders of 12 ABNA-SE news agencies will be in Prishtina from today until Sunday to discuss the pandemic and its impact on media work. Rakovica: The impact of COVID on the media will be addressed "Usually, the topics are chosen about media or tourism, they are chosen by the organizers of those countries where they are held. This year we have chosen the topic, the media at the time of COVID. We thought we had passed COVID but continued with post-COVID, so we have selected a few topics where all the media have been affected and the work that has been difficult, and how fair and accurate the information has been, and which are the resources that citizens should receive, through which media", said Rakovica. Director Rakovica spoke about the great importance of this organization in Kosovo, as this organization transcends the boundaries of a simple event between the media, traveling to several tourist places to present a tourist platform through visits, promotional videos and brochures, realized by KosovaPress. Rakovica: Organizing the ABNA-SE Assembly is important for Kosovo "It has a great importance, and how the states welcome us there is very important. There are prime ministers, ministers, they are always waiting for us in meetings, because it is of great importance, because there are the directors of the 12-leading media, who participate in this meeting and have media cooperation, news about media and tourism, there is different culture and collaborations, and through ABNA-SE platforms we also advertise or disseminate news and information about each country. It is very important to be able to receive different countries, because there are 12 media leaders that are known, especially agencies that are known around the world and are valued because of the reliable information that countries use", said Rakovica. The organization of the 29th Assembly of ABNA-SE has been a challenge for KosovaPress but it has been overcome thanks to the support of partners such as Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC, PPSE, Municipality of Peja, the Tourism Union of Kosovo, and Stone Castle, and the director of KosovaPress, Suzana Rakovica thanked them. Rakovica also spoke about the cooperation with the agencies that will come, emphasizing that KosovaPress remains the only source of information for them due to accuracy and impartiality. Rakovica: KosovaPress is already an international brand "KosovaPress is now known not only as a local brand, but also as an international brand, as a news agency in three languages that we produce now, such as Albanian, English and Serbian. So, except for videos, articles in English and Serbian, they have all the products ready for publication in their media", said Rakovica. Otherwise, KosovaPress News Agency has been operating since 1999, cooperating with the most important media in Kosovo, Albania, Northern Macedonia, with several other media in the region and has been a reference for prestigious news and agencies such as the Associated Press, Washington Post, etc.