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Iraqi Kurdistan plans a $400 million Media
City
27.11.2007
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November 27, 2007
Rome, Italy,-- The Kurdistan regional
government in 'Iraq' is planning to set up a Kurdish
media city which will act as a hub for media and
communications in the region and also attract
investment to Kurdistan 'northern Iraq'.
This is according to the Kurdistan regional
government's civil society minister, George Yousif
Mansour.
On Monday, Mansour paid a visit to the Rome
headquarters of Adnkronos, a leading Italian news
agency. The minister asked Adnkronos International
(AKI) to help turn such a project into reality.
Mansour held a meeting with the director of
Adnkronos and president of the GMC-Adnkronos media
group, Giuseppe Marra. www.ekurd.net
He said that the media city would be based in the
capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, Erbil, and would cost
400 million dollars.
The project will have an initial capital of 40
million dollars, with 60 percent of the project
covered by the Kurdish government and the remaining
40 percent to be covered by a Dubai-based film and
television company.
The aim of the project is to attract the
international media to the northern regions of Iraq.
The Media City will include television studios, a
hotel, shops and places to live for those involved
in media production. |
The Kurdistan regional government's civil society
minister, George Yousif Mansour headed a three-man
delegation that on Monday visited the Rome
headquarters of Adnkronos
AKI- Adnkronos |
Mansour said that in
this way they hope to create professional
opportunities as they develop the media and tourism
industries in the region.
Initially the hub will be able to transmit to 60
television stations and will eventually increase
this number to 120.
The political advisor to Iraq's prime minister Nouri
al-Maliki, Gorgs Y. Bakoos, and Iraq's ambassador to
the Vatican, Albert Yelda, were also present at the
meeting in Rome on Monday.
Mansour thanked AKI for its "impartiality in its
reporting on Iraq" and praised the news agency for
the training programme in place for four Iraqi
journalists at AKI's Arabic news service. The
project is sponsored by the Italian foreign
ministry's Task Force Iraq programme.
Mansour said that while "information represents the
so-called 'fourth estate'" it was important to
remember that the news has both "destructive and
useful aspects".
The Iraqi minister stressed the need for "neutral,
credible and objective" information and that the
media "needs to build bridges between communities,
populations and societies".
"The media professional does not have to be a social
reformer, but has the duty to transmit the news in
as objective a way as possible," he said.
Mansour said that "the media tends to concentrate on
security issues when discussing Iraq, while Iraq
actually represents so much more, having been the
cradle of civilisation and a country with history
and culture." www.ekurd.net
Bakoos, also said that the Western and Arabic media
tended to concentrate too much on security issues in
Iraq "without giving sufficient attention to the
efforts at political, social and economic
reconstruction" and said that AKI played a role in
"giving a more balanced view of Iraq."
adnkronos.com
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