Minutes of the 49th Executive Board Meeting of OANA
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
24th October, 2022
Participants;
Yonhap (South Korea), IRNA (Iran), TASS (Russia), Xinhua (China), AZERTAC (Azerbaijan), Anadolu (Turkiye), Kyodo (Japan), VNA (Vietnam), Montsame (Mongolia), NNA (Lebanon), Bernama (Malaysia).
Absent member agency: BNA (Bahrain), AAP (Australia)
[Approval of the minutes of the 48th EBM online in October, 2021]
Secretary-General asked the EBM members to approve the minutes of the last EBM, which took place online in October, 2021. The minutes was approved by all the board members
[Approval of the agenda of the 18th General Assembly]
Secretary-General asked the EBM members to approve the agenda of the 18th General Assembly, which was worked out jointly by the current chair agency Yonhap and the host Agency IRNA. The agenda was also approved by all the board members.
[Nomination of the agency candidate for the presidency in 2022-2025]
Secretary-General confirmed there were no further nominations and asked for EBM members' formal voting. All the board members unanimously and formally endorsed the nomination of IRNA for presidency in 2022-2025.
Congratulating IRNA's nomination for the next presidency in OANA, Secretary-General told that he will announce IRNA's candidacy as the nomination by the Executive Board at the General Assembly on the next day.
[Place of the 19th General Assembly]
Secretary-General told that the OANA Secretariat had received through IRNA a formal request from TASS to host the next General Assembly and also a formal request from Xinhua today. Heads of both agencies invited OANA members to attend the 19th General Assembly in Moscow and Beijing in 2025 respectively. Secretary-General told that the final decision will be made via voting during the general assembly tomorrow (October 25).
[Nomination of the Executive Board, Technical Committee and Ethics Committee members for 2022-2025]
Secretary-General briefly recommended to re-nominate the current Executive Board, Technical Committee and Ethics Committee members for 2022-2025, with some exception though.
The EBM members endorsed the nomination and authorized him to take it for the final vote by the General Assembly.
▲ EBM members
= AAP, Anadolu, AZERTAC, Bernama, IRNA, Kyodo, Montsame, NNA, TASS, VNA, Xinhua, WAM, Yonhap
▲ Technical Committee members
= AZERTAC, TASS, MEHR, PTI, KUNA, KAZINFORM, ANTARA, Montsame
▲ Ethics Committee members
=AAP, AZERTAC, BNA, KYODO
[Nomination of the four agencies’ candidates for the Vice-Presidency in 2022-2025]
Secretary-General briefed on the unwritten tradition whereby the outgoing President fills one of slots for Vice-President, which means Yonhap will take one of the four slots, leaving three vacancies.
Secretary-General asked member agencies, other than Yonhap, who want to be vice presidents to make known their wishes. Representatives Xinhua, TASS, Anadolu and AZERTAC submitted their candidacy by raising hands. Secretary-General said that he will announce the Executive Board’s recommendation at the General Assembly tomorrow so a vote can be taken to select the next vice president agencies.
[Forming the Election Committee]
Secretary-General suggested that the Executive Board should form the Election Committee on October 25 meeting of the OANA General Assembly in order to guarantee the transparency of the counting of votes. IRNA was kindly asked to prepare a ballot box to make voting process easier.
IRNA, Yonhap, Kyodo and Anadolu were asked to form the election committee. Finally, the case was approved by all participants.
[The Tehran Declaration]
IRNA representative Mr. Zaman made a short introduction so everyone present can get the gist of what is included in the Declaration. IRNA declared an amendment to the item 5(e) of the Tehran declaration as Yonhap proposed its amendment. All the participants approved the draft. Secretary-General said that he will regard the draft as endorsed by the Executive Board and call the OANA members to adopt the final declaration.
Secretary-General mentioned the minutes of the current EBM should be completed and distributed to all the OANA members prior to the beginning of the 18th General Assembly on October 25.
Secretary-General formally called for the 50th Executive Board Meeting to be convened immediately after the 18th General Assembly, chaired by the new President (IRNA).
