Kabul, Afghanistan: The Killid Group (TKG) and Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) in partnership with International Media Support (IMS) organized a conference in Kabul to initiate a dialogue between media persons from both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Kabul, Afghanistan: The Killid Group (TKG) and Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) in partnership with International Media Support (IMS) organized a conference in Kabul to initiate a dialogue between media persons from both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
This conference took place in Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul on February 21 and 22, 2011. Journalists, editors and media personalities from both countries attended the conference, which was unique in Afghanistan – it served as a platform that discussed obstacles to cooperation between journalists on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border, ways to overcome them and pursue common interests by increasing collaboration between the media in the two countries.
The partners in this initiative set off a debate and discourse on the challenges and opportunities, criteria and guidelines for media cooperation between the two countries. The conference in Kabul is the first step in the three-year program that aims to encourage and strengthen a strong working relationship between journalists, editors and media organizations in both countries.
The conference was launched by the Afghan Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Mohammad MobarezRashedi who hailed the initiative and pledged every possible support for the project. The Minister of Culture and Information Mr. Makhdoom Raheen Who joined the conference in its second day that Afghan doors and hearts are open for healthy relationship with Pakistan at every level.
The three-year program will create a Cooperation Fund and training opportunities that will facilitate bilateral cooperation to cover complex cross-border discourse. This process will be managed through establishing an independent 14-member Joint Advisory Board that will select applicants to the training program.
This conference, in an unprecedented manner, brought together several enthusiastic senior media personalities and well-known journalists who are in agreement on strengthening ties and promoting better understanding between the peoples of both countries.
Organizational background:
Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS): The Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), an independent think-tank, is dedicated to work for peace and security. In compliance with this purpose, scope of the PIPS activities ranges from research-and-analysis and policy advocacy to implementing certain planned interventions.The PIPS has six principal thematic areas to work on: 1. Radicalization, Political Violence and Terrorism; 2.Media, Human Rights and Democracy; 3.Regional Strategic Issues; 4.Conflict and Development; 5.Economic Strategic Issues; and 6. International Relations and Foreign Policy.
IMS is a media development international NGO based in Copenhagen and funded by foreign ministries of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
Today, TKG operates the Radio Killid Network with 24/7 local stations in Kabul, Mazar, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Heart, Khost, and Ghazni. In 2010 TKG launched Afghanistan’s first radio station dedicated to Rock ‘n’ Roll. Radio Killid Network’s unique blend of public service-oriented programming (cultural, political, developmental and educational programs), news, entertainment and music reaches millions of listeners and many of its original programs and public service announcements are shared with 28 smaller and financially strapped affiliate radio stations throughout rural Afghanistan. TKG is also home to two of Afghanistan’s largest circulating magazines, Killid, and Mursal, exclusive women’s weekly. These magazines are the only two publications to reach Afghanistan’s 34 provinces every week and serve as a valuable public communication and literacy tool for a nation where public libraries and newsstands are minimal at best.
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