UNDP’s Iraq Representative visits IraqiNews.com News Agency:

  ERBIL / IraqiNews.com: A delegation, led by the Director of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Iraq, visited the Erbil bureau of IraqiNews.com News Agency on Sunday, where he got acquainted with the Agency’s different sections, expressing admiration for its development and plans, depending on its self potentials. IraqiNews.com’s Editor-in-Chief, Zuhair al-Jazaery said the UNDP‘s delegation’s visit, led by UNDP Country Office Director, Paolo Lembo, “has took part as part of the Programme’s commitment to support IraqiNews.com News Agency and to get acquainted with its development, since it had presented support for it over the past few years.” Jazaery said he and the Agency’s working team had “presented a detailed explanation for the Agency’s situation, working plans and development programmes in the field of news, photo and voice reporting services, and the Agency’s plans to present other services, such as video, news archive, the last of which he said had exceeded 230,000 reporting materials since the beginning of the Agency’s activity in 2004. Mr. Lembo, accompanied by the UNDP–Iraq Head of Erbil Sub-Office, Vehbi Selmani, had expressed “admiration for the Agency’s development and its plans to depend on its self potentials,” reiterating that the UNDP is seriously following the Agency’s plans and planning to present further support for it. IraqiNews.com News Agency had received support and financing by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since its foundation on November 21, 2004. A study by the International Research & Exchange Council (IREX) had presented a “Study for Iraqi Media/Local Mass Media,” in which it reiterated that IraqiNews.com News Agency had occupied the first position among media and news agencies positions, usually followed up by Iraqis, looking for news reports, being 24% of the total reports followed. The study, that took place in 2009 about the employment of mass media and people’s habits, among those of 15 years of age and up, had covered 2,200 persons, including 200 living in north Iraq‘s Kurdistan Region and the others in different Iraqi provinces. IT / SKH 990