JEDDAH, 6 December 2007 — Erden Kok, brand and marketing director of Turkey’s Cihan news agency, has been appointed new director general of the International Islamic News Agency (IINA), it was announced yesterday. A ceremony was held at IINA headquarters here yesterday to welcome the new director general and honor his predecessor, Abdul Wahab Kashif.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Jasser, undersecretary at the Ministry of Culture and Information, who attended the event, disclosed plans to restructure IINA and the Islamic States Broadcasting Organization (ISBO) to play an effective role in the media world.
He said the ministerial committee set up by the OIC information ministers would meet soon to discuss how to promote joint media work among members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Saudi Arabia presented a paper at the last meeting of the OIC information ministers in Jeddah on strengthening IINA and ISBO and the conference approved the proposal.
Al-Jasser said the appointment of Erdem Kok was within the framework of IINA’s restructuring process. He thanked the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for agreeing to finance the studies on restructuring the two organizations.
“We hope that after the restructuring is completed IINA will become a strong media arm for the Islamic world,” Al-Jasser said. “Saudi Arabia has been providing financial support to the IINA in the past years and we hope other members of the OIC will make their contributions in order to help the news agency work within and outside Islamic countries,” he added.
Earlier, OIC Secretary-General Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu welcomed the new director general and wished him every success in his new position. He thanked Kashif for his contributions.
In his brief speech, Erdem Kok said he would exert all possible efforts to strengthen the Islamic news agency in order to play a better role in the world, highlighting the news and views of OIC states and peoples. Kok is expected to apply his long-standing service with Cihan News Agency to change the face of IINA.
