Saudi Minister of Culture and Information Iyad bin Amin Madani stressed that the Islamic Information ministers are urged today to strengthen their joint cooperation in developing the Islamic media products and improving its performance to serve the issues of the Islamic Ummah (nation). In a speech delivered at the opening of the 8th session of the Islamic Information Ministers Conference, which started its deliberations here earlier today, Madani called for working hard in order to reflect the joint information projects on the ground and keep pace with the technological and information development at the international level. Madani called for accrediting the speech addressed to the conference by King Mohammed VI of Morocco as an official document of the conference. Minister of Culture and Information recalled the decisions of the 7th session of the Conference held in Jeddah during 2006, especially the decision of preparing two studies related to the restructuring of the Islamic News Agency (INA) and the Islamic States Broadcasting Union ( ISBU) to upgrade and develop their performance. He pointed out that these two studies allocated an estimated budget for financing of INA and ISBU, calling on member states to start paying their shares in that budget. On another issue, Madani condemned the brutal Israeli aggression against the unarmed Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip, stressing that the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), will spare no effort to defend the just Palestinian cause, hailing the efforts and initiatives undertaken by Al-Quds Al-Sharif Treasury Agency to provide support for and assistance to Palestinians. The next session of the Islamic Information Ministers Conference will be held in Gabon in 2011, Madani announced. --More
