BLACK SEA AND BALKANS NEWS AGENCIES FORM UNION

Agence France Presse — English
June 1, 2006 Thursday 4:33 PM GMT

A dozen national news agencies, mainly in southeastern Europe, have
formed an association to boost their cooperation, the Greek agency
Ana reported Thursday.

As well as Ana, the Union of Balkans and Black Sea News Agencies groups
Albania’s Ata, Armenia’s Armenpress, Azerbaijan’s Azertaj, Bulgaria’s
BTA and Georgia’s Caucasus-press, along with Ukrinform of Ukraine,
Rompress of Romania, Itar-TASS of Russia, Tanjug of Serbia-Montenegro,
Anatolia of Turkey and the Moldova agency.

Ana said the new body, formed at a meeting in Kiev and headed by
Ukrinform director Victor Samara, was designed to enhance the free
circulation of news and cooperation with regional and international
organisations to cover events that affect the lives of the region’s
inhabitants.