Declarations

To:
H.E. Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe
H.E. Diogo Freitas do Amaral, Chairman-in-Office of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, Council of Europe
H.E. Jan Malinowski, Head of Media Division of Directorate General of Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Council of Europe
H.E. Dimitrij Rupel, Chairman-in-Office, OSCE
H.E. Miklos Haraszti, Freedom of the Media Representative, OSCE
H.E. Jose Manuel Barroso, President, European Commission
H.E. Neelie Kroes, Commissioner responsible for Competition Policy, European Commission
H.E. Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General, UNESCO
H.E. Erhard Busek, Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe
H.E. Soren Jessen-Petersen, Special Representative, UNMIK
H.E. Paddy Ashdown, High Representative, Office of the High Representative (OHR)
H.E. Adnan Terzic,  Prime Minister, Council of Ministers, Bosnia-Herzegovina
H.E. Ahmet Hadzipasic, Prime Minister of the Federation of BiH, Bosnia-Herzegovina
H.E. Pero Bukejlovic, Prime Minister of Republika Srpska, Bosnia-Herzegovina
H.E. Simeon Saxe-Coburg,  Prime Minister, Bulgaria
H.E. Ivo Sanader, Prime Minister, Croatia
H.E. Vlado Buckovski,  Prime Minister, Republic of Macedonia
H.E. Milo Djukanovic, Prime Minister, Montenegro
H.E. Calin Constantin Anton Popescu - Tariceanu, Prime Minister, Romania
H.E. Vojislav Kostunica, Prime Minister, Serbia
H.E. Mikulas Dzurinda, Prime Minister, Slovakia
H.E. Bajram Kosumi, Prime Minister, Kosovo

Conclusions of the SEEMO meeting of private news agencies from South East Europe (listed bellow), which was organised by South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of International Press Institute (IPI), in Skopje, from 9-11 June 2005.

1. The participating private news agencies agreed on future cooperation in exchange of news, experience and staff, with the mutual goal of improvement of their news agencies.
2. By respecting the principles of the Resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe No. 1397 (2004), no government should use the state budget in order to maintain influence over the remaining state-owned media outlets at the expense of independent media organisations.
3. Private news agencies call for an end to support of state-run news agencies by unlawful state aid. Also, private news agencies oppose any kind of state monopoly in the media sphere and demand equal access to the markets. The governments and other state institutions must cover their information demands only via public procurements.
4. Private news agencies call upon the responsible institutions to help maintain legal regulations on copyright, initiate their introduction, in case they are missing, and observe their usage in practice.

 Participating agencies agreed on future cooperation and decided to establish an Association of private news agencies.

Signatories:

• KosovaLive news agency, Pristina, Kosovo
• Beta news agency, Belgrade, Serbia
• FoNet news agency, Belgrade, Serbia
• BGNES news agency, Sofia, Bulgaria
• Sita news agency, Bratislava, Slovakia
• Mediafax news agency, Bucharest, Romania
• Kosova Press news agency, Pristina Kosovo
• Onasa news agency, Sarajevo, Bosnia - Herzegovina
• Makfax news agency, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
• Stina news agency, Split, Croatia
• MINA news agency, Podgorica, Montenegro