Oman won 98pc vote to host IFJ Congress

The Sultanate of Oman has secured 98 per cent of the IFJ (International Federation of Journalists) members' confidence in welcoming home the 31st Journalists Congress, a milestone that the nation can be proud of.

"Oman, represented by the Oman Journalists Association (OJA), is hosting the media congress for the first time and is the second country in the region to have played host to such an elite conference of world media," Salim al Jahwari, Deputy Head of OJA, said.

The world's largest organisation of journalists and other media persons represents 600,000 media professionals from 187 trade unions and associations in more than 140 countries and is the organisation that speaks for journalists within the United Nations system and within the international trade union movement.

"Having got the trust of more than 98 per cent of the members, Oman having selected to be the host is a great milestone in the history of media here," he added.

IFJ was first established as the Fédération Internationale des Journalistes (FIJ) in Paris inn 1926, but was relaunched as the International Organisation of Journalists (IOJ) in 1946, and later renamed International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in Brussels in 1952.

Younis Mujahid, President of the IFJ, confirmed that the Sultanate of Oman’s hosting of the 31st International Federation of Journalists' Congress and its meetings from May 31 to June 3 is an occasion to discuss journalists’ issues, press freedom and what is happening at the global level. In addition to that, it will be an important station for the election of the Board of Directors of the International Federation for the next session.

"The convening of the 31st International Conference of the International Federation of Journalists in the Sultanate of Oman is an important milestone," said Moussa Moeen, Head of the General Union of Syrian Journalists.

He further said that it is a historic conference for two important reasons. The first reason is the convening of the conference in a sister Arab country, and the other reason is that the Muscat conference will witness the birth of an Asian press union.

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