Tunis, December 15, 2009 - The Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) hosted Tuesday, at its headquarters in Tunis, the eighty-second session of its Executive Council, in preparation for the General Assembly’s twenty-ninth regular session (17-18 December). Delegates from all the Board members participated in the meeting, which was chaired by ASBU President, Dr. Riyadh Kamal Najm, and attended by the Director General, Mr. Slaheddine Maaoui.

In his opening statement, Dr Najm emphasized that the last semester has been full of achievements, most notably the full use of the MENOS-ASBU system (Multimedia Exchange Network Over Satellite). All ASBU members can only be proud of such an achievement, for which ASBU deserved to be awarded two major prizes from the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC).

Mr. Slaheddine Maaoui noticed that ASBU has successfully and fully implemented its work plan for 2009, thanks to the strong support it received from all member corporations. He also reviewed the major achievements of the second semester, stressing the excellent quality reached by ASBU’s activities. He cited a few examples, such as the Festival of Arab radio and television’s 14th session, MENOS-ASBU reaching a full usage stage, the implementation of the training plan and the continued coverage of major international and regional sports events

The Executive Board reviewed a number of major issues, including, in particular, the General Directorate’s activity report for 2009 in the fields of radio and television, programmes, news, sports, engineering, documentation and research, as well as Arab and International Cooperation.

It also discussed reports by ASBU’s Arab Center for news and program exchange (Algiers) and the Arab Center for radio and television training (Damascus), in addition to a report submitted by the third meeting of the Expert Group in charge of studying a strategy to attract more channel membership.  The meeting will consider applications submitted by some radio and television channels to join ASBU.

ASBU Standing Committee on Administrative, financial and legal Affairs had held its fifty seventh session in Tunis, December 11-13. The Committee reviewed a number of administrative and financial issues related to the organization's activities in 2009 and 2010. It called on the Executive Board to recommend to the General Assembly the approval of the draft budget it prepared for 2010.