(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release: Paris, 26 May 1999 For immediate release Editors to Discuss Development With World Bank Editors from developing countries will have a unique opportunity to discuss the role of a free press in development strategies with World Bank President James Wolfensohn during a conference organised by the […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release:
Paris, 26 May 1999
For immediate release
Editors to Discuss Development With World Bank
Editors from developing countries will have a unique opportunity to discuss
the role of a free press in development strategies with World Bank President
James Wolfensohn during a conference organised by the Bank and the World
Association of Newspapers.
The conference, to be held 13 June, in Zürich, Switzerland, within the
framework of WAN’s World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum, will
bring together journalists from more than 20 countries and territories to
discuss the World Bank’s new Comprehensive Development Framework and the
role of a free press in helping to ensure its effective implementation.
The journalists will also participate in the 52nd World Newspaper Congress
and 6th World Editors Forum, the annual meetings of the global newspaper
industry that will bring some 1,000 publishers and other top newspaper
executives and their guests to Zurich 13-16 June.
The WAN/World Bank conference, called “A New Approach to Development: The
Role of the Press”, will give participants the opportunity to question Bank
President Wolfensohn, who will participate via video hookup from Washington.
The Bank’s new Comprehensive Development Framework, a response to an overall
decline in Overseas Development Assistance and the need for more effective
use of development aid, attempts to get all partners in development –
governments, multilateral and bilateral agencies, civil society and the
private sector – to coordinate their projects in a comprehensive,
transparent and accountable basis.
“A free, independent press is a vital component in effective development. It
needs to be strengthened and encouraged to carry out its role as a check,
monitor and revealer of incompetence, mismanagement and corruption,” said
Timothy Balding, Director General of WAN.
“This conference will provide an opportunity for journalists who work in
countries where CDF pilot projects are under consideration to analyse this
new approach to development, examine the likely obstacles and discuss the
conditions needed for the press to play a constructive role,” he said.
Participants will include publishers and editors from Azerbaijan, Barbados,
Bolivia, Cameroon, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana,
India, the Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Romania, South Korea,
Trinidad, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank and Gaza and Vietnam.
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry,
defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 15,000
newspapers; its membership includes 58 national newspaper associations,
individual newspaper executives in 90 countries, 17 news agencies and seven
regional press groups.
Editors please note: Journalists wishing to cover the WAN/World Bank
Conference are asked to register by contacting Larry Kilman, Director of
Communications, WAN
