Abdul Aziz Khoja, minister of culture and information and chairman of the board of directors of the Saudi Press Agency, will inaugurate the fourth News Agencies World Congress (NAWC) in Riyadh on Monday.

Coinciding with the NWAC meet, the 41st conference of the general assembly of the Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA) began on Sunday, which was opened by Khoja.

Farid Ayar, FANA secretary-general, described the coincidence as a significant opportunity to exchange views and experiences.

Event organizers said that more than 70 news agencies from all over the world incuding 30 speakers who are experts on media, information technology and communications will be taking part in the NAWC to re-invent the wire service facing challenges in the 21st century.

The SPA has extended its invitation to 112 news agencies to participate in the event, besides inviting senior officials of organizations and institutions in the field of communication technology that have specialized experiences in the field of information exchange.

The largest gathering of international media is expected to enrich discussions, which will bolster the role of news agencies in this information age, the officials said.

They said preparations had been made to host the mega conference, which is aimed at improving the performance of news agencies as they are the key news gatherers despite the emergence of new media means.

The guests will have open programs to visit the cultural and historical attractions of the Kingdom, they said.

Heads of news agencies and other media houses participating in the conference will spend three days to study major themes identified by the International Council of News Agencies.

The first NAWC was hosted by Russia in 2004 at the invitation of the Russian agency, Itar-tass, while the second congress was held in Spain in 2007 following an invitation from the Spanish news agency, Efe.

This was followed by the third congress, which was hosted by Argentina in 2010 at the invitation of the Argentine national news agency, Telam.