Baku, October 6, AZERTAC

The Association of the Balkan News Agencies - Southeast Europe (ABNA-SE) Thursday was registered in Bulgaria as a non-profit association. ABNA's seat is in Sofia, and its registered address is BTA's head office at 49 Tsarigradsko Chaussee Blvd.

The Association is represented, separately, by its President, Aimilios Perdikaris (Director General of the Greek news agency ANA-MPA), and its Secretary General, Kiril Valchev (Director General of the Bulgarian News Agency BTA).

ABNA's Management Board is registered as consisting of Aimilios Perdikaris, Skender Krasniqi (KosovaPress Agency), and Serdar Karagoz (Director General of Turkiye's Anadolu Agency).

At the 30th ABNA-SE General Assembly in Burgas (on the Black Sea) on September 19, Bulgaria was selected to host the Association, and Valchev was elected Secretary General for a three-year term. The resolution was adopted unanimously by representatives of news agencies from 11 countries. The forum also adopted a Statute of ABNA, which follows the principles enshrined in the Statute of the European Association of News Agencies (EANA). The 31st General Assembly will take place in Thessaloniki, Greece, in the spring of 2023, and Turkiye will take over in 2024.

The idea to set up an association of Balkan news agencies emerged at a meeting of their representatives in Sofia in September 1994. The constituent first General Assembly of ABNA was held in Thessaloniki in June 1995. The organization seeks to facilitate the pursuit of cooperation among news agencies in the region and contribute to the establishment of a climate of peace, friendship and cooperation in the Balkans.

The ABNA-SE members are Albania's ATA, Bosnia and Hercegovina's FENA, Bulgaria's BTA, Croatia's HINA, Cyprus's CNA, Greece's ANA-MPA, Kosovo's KosovaPress, Montenegro's MINA, Republic of North Macedonia's MIA, Romania's Agerpress and Turkiye's Anadolu Agency.