The 30th General Assembly of the Association of the Balkan News Agencies – Southeast Europe (ABNA-SE), organized by the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), has started its work, which is being held in Bugras, Bulgaria.

The president of ABNA-SE, Skënder Krasniqi, said that since the creation of ABNA-SE, hundreds of meetings have been organized and in all of these, the need to register the Association was emphasized, following the example of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA).

“We discussed this topic again during the signing of the agreement between KosovaPress and BTA in Sofia, and as you can see, this day has come, with the expression of Kirill's will and desire, and with our support, ABNA is finally being made official also with documents”, he said.

He said that the meetings held over the years have increased mutual cooperation in many areas and have contributed and are contributing to reaching common agreements between news agencies.

"This is what we are seeing and experiencing every day", he added.

Krasniqi also recalled last year's meeting during the 29th Assembly that was held in Prishtina.

“For us as KosovaPress, it was a pleasure to be your host and to have you as a guest in September of last year, where we had the opportunity to talk about many things, especially our situation as a news agency during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. Also, you had the opportunity to visit Kosovo, where some of you were for the first time”, said Krasniqi.

He emphasized that the opening of the "Balkan Newsroom" and the possibilities for increasing tourism between the countries were also discussed at the last meeting.

“Also, in June of this year, all members of ABNA were invited to the Balkan Leadership conference on "Peace, Security and Development in the Western Balkans", which was held in Prishtina, where presidents, prime ministers, media leaders from the region and the world participated”, he said.

The current president, Skënder Krasniqi, said that it's been almost 30 years since ABNA was founded as an organization, and so far, it has organized dozens of meetings that have made an extraordinary contribution.

We strongly believe that the possibilities of cooperation and the creation of joint regional projects will increase, even with the support of different donors.

This conference is organized by the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) in partnership with the KosovaPress News Agency, the Washington Times Foundation and the International Media Association for Peace (IMAP). This year's topic is "Together for true news".

We recall that for one year the presidency was held by the news agency KosovaPress. ABNA-SE is also officially registered with a legal status with headquarters in Sofia, Bulgaria, thus following the example of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA).