YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–The establishment of a new public organization – the International Association of Journalists of the South Caucasus- was announced in Gudauri–Georgia–on Saturday–December 9. The goal of the newly established organization is to strengthen peace–cooperation and stability in the region. A press conference devoted to this event was held in Yerevan–on Tuesday.
President of the Yerevan Press Club Boris Navasardian said that the offices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe based in the three republics of the South Caucasus as well as the Government of Sweden had contributed to the establishment of the new organization. The organization also aims to promote regional integration–synchronized democratic processes and efforts to build a civil society. It will also promote the establishment of a free–independent–democratic press in the region and will work to create conditions for social and legal protection of journalists.
Currently–the organization has 30 members–who represent not only the three republics of the South Caucasus–but also such states as the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic–South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The organization is expected to be registered in one of the West European capitals next March.
According to Boris Navasardian–the major programs of the "South Caucasus" organization are likely to aim at raising the professional level of journalists writing on regional topics.