FANA holds First Annual meeting

Beirut, August 13, SPA -- Abdullah bin Fahd Al-Husain, the Acting
Director General of the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) is participating in
the first Annual General Assembly of the Federation of the Arab News
Agencies (FANA) called by the Federation's General Secretariat, now
in progress in Beirut under the chairmanship of the Federation's
President Ramadhan Arrwashdah.

The meeting began with a speech by the FANA President who deplored
the terrorist bombing that took place in the city of Tripoli, asking
Allah Almighty to ensure security and stability for Lebanon and its
people.

Arrwashdah said "FANA, as a member of the Council of Arab Ministers
of Information, was present at the Council's session held in Cairo
last May, during which it had raised several issues relating to
information sphere and also the General Secretariat provided a report
on FANA's activities."

"The current meeting (in Beirut) will also discuss the outstanding
issues of some Arab news agencies that either failed to pay their
dues or have not participated for a while in the Federation's
activities, which is comprised of 19 Arab news agencies".

Then, a closed-door meeting started its works. A statement from
the General Secretariat will be issued later.