GENERAL ASSEMBLY Secretary General’s Report
Asia-Pacific region and will represent the common interests of its members, the ABU General Assembly was told.
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ABU Secretary-General Javad Mottaghi said in his report that the Asia-Pacific region has immense poten- tial for media development.
He said this while delivering a report on the ABU’s activities since the last General Assembly in Tokyo.
Dr Mottaghi announced that after seven years of recording budget deficits, the ABU had ended 2011 with a modest surplus.
He said that prior to 2001, the ABU had seen an annual surplus but between 2001 and 2010, the Secretariat’s operational expenses had gradually increased while the income remained more or less the same.
After adopting cost-cutting measures since May 2010, the Secretariat was able to end its fiscal year with a surplus. Dr Mottaghi said this surplus would be put towards providing members with more activities in content, news and new technologies.
“We did our best to increase the income of the Union by developing partnerships with members and several key international organisations to overcome the deficit.
“As a result, the number of activities offered to members and the scope of work was immensely increased, benefiting more
ABU members,” he said. He cited the Early Warning Broadcast workshops, which trained 500 people in several countries, as an example.
However, Dr Mottaghi said: “The ABU would have to endure one or two financially painful years ahead mainly due to the loss in the US dollar exchange rate.”
Nevertheless, he assured members that even if the ABU ends up with a deficit next year, services to members would not be reduced.
New initiatives
Dr Mottaghi highlighted a number of new initiatives that have been in place since the previous General Assembly:
• The World Summit on Media for Children. RTM- Malaysia has agreed to host the event in
2014. The summit will be organised by the ABU and will also commemorate the union’s 50th anniversary
• The Pacific Media Partnership Conference. The ABU initiated-event is to be held on 19-21 December in Tonga. It is to provide professional services to ABU mem- bers in the Pacific region
• The new ABU Song Festival will be split into TV and radio segments. Radio Australia will chair the secretariat for the radio portion while KBS-Korea will host the inaugural TV segment in conjunction with the General Assembly in Seoul
• A joint ABU-ASBU regional workshop on Health, Education and HIV & AIDS was held in September in Kuala Lumpur
he ABU will be active in promoting media development in the
ASIAVISION
Advancing members’ interests while managing cost
• An ABU/ASBU/ AIBD workshop on web journalism was implemented in June 2011
• An in-country workshop on Peace Building, Conflict Resolution and Prevention was held in Fiji in July 2011
• A regional workshop on Gender Mainstreaming in Broadcasting was held from 30 October to 1 November in New Delhi.
Dr Mottaghi also announ- ced that a new website with more member- oriented features would be launched in January. He said there would be more web seminars and online courses for members.
“Our target is to make all our face-to-face workshops accessible as live webinars and then re-run them within a few months. We are also in talks with local universities and other international organisations to develop more online courses.”
Dr Mottaghi mentioned that the Secretariat had also received encouraging feedback from several members on the quality and content of the quarterly ABU News after improvements had been made to ABU’s online and print publications.
> see page 7 ABU News 5
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