MOSCOW, The Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) will host the 54th Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) Executive Board Meeting in Kuala Lumpur in February next year.

Oana Secretary General Zaman Rezakhani said Bernama’s selection was made at the board’s 53rd meeting held here.

He also said Russia’s Tass News Agency will host the organisation’s annual general assembly in June 2025.

Bernama last hosted the executive board meeting in 2015, with the theme “Social Media and Challenges Confronting News Agencies”.

Some 40 participants comprising chief executive officers and top editorial personnel attended the three-day meeting in 2015.

Among the news agencies that attended the Moscow meeting this time were from Azerbaijan, South Korea, China, Iran, Russia, Japan, Indonesia, Turkiye, Qatar and Malaysia.

Bernama’s Chief Executive Officer Nur-ul Afida Kamaludin said it is an honour for the national news agency to be given the opportunity to host the meeting.

“The meeting will be timely as Ma
laysia will assume the chairmanship of ASEAN next year. This will give opportunity for Oana members to see Malaysia’s role in hosting various ASEAN meetings next year,” she said.

OANA was formed in 1961 on the initiative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to secure the direct and free exchange of news among the news agencies of a region inhabited by more than one-half of the world’s population.

OANA, which covers two-thirds of the world’s population, now has 43 members from 35 countries across Asia and Oceania.

TASS, which is celebrating its 120th anniversary this year, also hosted the BRICS Media Summit as a prelude to next month’s BRICS Summit in Kazan.

More than 200 delegates from 45 countries attended the four-day summit at the World Trade Centre here.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency