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Paris, 16 October 2002
For immediate release


UNESCO Upgrades WAN Status

The World Association of Newspapers has been granted Associate Relations status at UNESCO, a rare privilege awarded to a small number of non-governmental organisations with expertise in one of the UN agency's fields of interest.

The decision to "upgrade" WAN, which has until now enjoyed consultative status, was taken today by the 58-nation Executive Board of UNESCO.

In a statement, UNESCO said: "The Director-General welcomes the decision of the Executive Board to establish closer formal bonds between UNESCO and WAN in recognition of our fruitful collaboration and converging efforts in support of freedom of the press and the promotion of independent media, and expresses the hope that this long-standing partnership will be further enhanced by this new status."

"WAN believes that our common ambition of helping the development of a strong, free and independent press throughout the world in the years ahead will be greatly facilitated by the granting of this new status," said Timothy Balding, Director General of the Paris-based WAN.

"This decision by UNESCO member states brings, for the first time, a representative organisation of the press industry into the same level of privileged relations with this UN agency as that enjoyed by a handful of non-governmental organisations prominent in the education, science and culture sectors," he added.

Associate Relations status is given to a small number of organisations "that are broadly international in membership, bring together specialist international professional associations, have proven competence in an important field of education, science, culture or communication, and have a record of regular major contributions to UNESCO's work."`

In recent years, UNESCO and WAN have collaborated on several major programmes, including projects to build a distribution network and a printing plant in the former Yugoslavia, initiatives to aid the press in Afghanistan, East Timor and Colombia, and on a variety of training and literacy projects around the globe.

The upgrading of the relationship to Associate status gives WAN a more formal advisory role on UNESCO's programmes and activities. The obligations and benefits of Associate Relations include the opportunity to participate in consultations with the UNESCO Director General in areas where the NGO's expertise is essential.

WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 71 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 100 countries, 13 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 25 rue d'Astorg, 75008 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr

--- Larry Kilman
Director of Communications
World Association of Newspapers
25, rue d'Astorg
75008 Paris France
Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00
Fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48
E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr
Visit our web site at http://www.wan-press.org