The Mayor of the Municipality of Prishtina, Përparim Rama, has congratulated the KosovaPress News Agency on its 25th anniversary of establishment.

In his speech before those present, Rama praised the role of KosovaPress for independent information, and he added that this agency came out of the smoke of the conflict 25 years ago.

Rama said that the journey of KosovaPress was born amid the efforts for freedom and that it was a light of hope amid the ashes of war.

The mayor of the capital also spoke about the importance of free speech, which he said is a vital source of journalism, but according to him, its role can be twofold.

Rama said that free speech enables complaints to be aired and at the same time to hold the government accountable for its actions, but if it is used for malicious purposes, it can turn into incitement to hatred.

Otherwise, tomorrow the KosovaPress News Agency will host the international conference “Freedom of speech borders”, in honor of the 25th anniversary of its establishment, which will be held on Thursday in Prishtina.

This conference will bring together in our capital more than 20 world news agencies from all over Europe and the Balkans. Members of the largest European network of news agencies EANA (www.newsalliance.org) as well as that of South-East Europe ABNA SEE (www.abnase.com), networks where KosovaPress is a member, will be present at this event.

Especially for this conference, Nataliya Kostina, head of the Department for Foreign Relations at the Ukrainian News Agency ‘Ukrinform’, also comes from Kyiv.

The conference will have two panels, where journalists will have the opportunity to ask questions during the two panels and during the conference.

The first panel will focus on the contemporary challenges facing news agencies and the media in this period of great global change.

The first panel will be moderated by Branka Gabriela Vojvodic from the Croatian News Agency HINA and consists of: Alan Marshall from the United Kingdom’s PA Media Group, Camille Bouissou from the French News Agency AFP, Natalia Kostina from the Ukrainian News Agency UKRINFORM, Aimilios Perdiakris from the Greek News Agency ANA-MPA, and Rodolfo Cardarelli from the Italian News Agency ANSA.

This panel will discuss critical issues such as disinformation, technological advances, safety risks for journalists and the financial sustainability of news agencies in the landscape of the contemporary media world.

Meanwhile, in the second part of the conference, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Donika Gërvalla, and the General Director of KosovaPress, Suzana Rakovica, will speak.

In the second panel, the speakers will be the president of the Prishtina MALL Board, Fatmir Zymeri, the leader of the UBT College Edmond Hajrizi, university professor Besa Luzha, Kushtrim Krasniqi from the Kosovo Olympic Committee, and Tualant Hodaj from the Kosovo Football Federation, who will present views about the possibility of creating synergies to support innovative initiatives that advance social prosperity.

The conference will be held tomorrow (Thursday) starting at 10:00, at the Emerald Hotel, Prishtina.