OREANDA-NEWS. March 31, 2009. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan and the Centre of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Ashgabat organized the training for Turkmen journalists. The training brought together the representatives of the national mass media, TV and radio and the Hungarian journalists who were invited as trainers.

Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, who had arrived in Ashgabat to take part in the training, had the meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where the sides exchanged views on the priority trends in Turkmenistan-OSCE cooperation particularly on the media issues. The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media was informed of the progress of the information policy pursued under the humanitarian programmes initiated by President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. The focus of the meeting was cooperation under various programmes and projects for media workers, expansion of partnership in the information technologies, improvement of the system of the accreditation of the new agencies and foreign journalists in Turkmenistan.

The topics of the five-day training conducted by the international experts include the use of the internet, printed and electronic periodicals, major principles of the freedom of press and mass media legislation. The focus of the training is internet publications which play an essential role on global information market, the work of the press services of government agencies and private companies and organization of press conferences.

Within the framework of the training the participants will get acquainted with the activities of the OSCE Center in Ashgabat. Speaking at the opening ceremony Ambassador Arsim Zekolli, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, added: "Our pioneering event is in line with President Berdimuhamedov's recent statement urging the media to create contemporary programmes. Development of Internet access in the country also helps to move forward in this direction”. Welcoming Turkmenistan’s policy aimed at enhancing partnership with other countries and international organizations, integration with the global community Ambassador expressed belief that this training would help to raise the journalists’ professionalism and provide new

During the visit OSCE Mr Miklos Haraszti will also lecture students at the newly established Institute for Foreign Relations on the OSCE's history and his own experience in supporting the implementation of OSCE commitments in the field of media freedom.