The Central Director of the Ivorian Press Agency (AIP), Barry Sana Oumou, visited on September 6th, 2023 the headquarters of Morocco’s Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP) news agency.

On this occasion, Barry had a working session with MAP General Manager, President of the Atlantic Federation of African Press Agencies (FAAPA), Fouad Arif.

Arif and Barry, who is also FAAPA’s 1st vice-president, discussed ways of strengthening cooperation between MAP and AIP, as well as FAAPA’s development prospects as an important regional media organization comprising some 30 African press agencies.

On a bilateral level, the two leaders emphasized the importance of exchanging expertise between the Moroccan and Ivorian news agencies, as well as ways of consolidating the training of journalists and executives in journalistic, administrative and technical fields.

The meeting was also an opportunity to stress the importance of cooperation and coordination in the exchange of information and media coverage of continental and international events, notably within the framework of FAAPA.

In this respect, Arif emphasized the need for the news agencies, members of the Atlantic Federation, to produce local African information and thus reinforce their informational sovereignty.

Arif also emphasized MAP’s ambition to embark on a program of training and exchange of expertise with the agencies in this regional group.

For her part, Barry, who was accompanied by AIP’s Deputy Director, Massita Sabine Dosso, expressed her wish to benefit from the Moroccan News Agency’s experience in a number of fields, notably in relation to information, monetization and information systems.

Barry also stressed the importance of training journalists, notably through immersion courses and the exchange of information between African news agencies.