Editors, media executives and leading journalists from around the globe will attend the IPI World Congress and 54th General Assembly, to be held at the Hotel Intercontinental Nairobi from 21-24 May 2005.
President Mwai Kibaki, who won a landslide victory in the 2002 general elections, ending President Daniel arap Moi’s 24-year rule, will open the 2005 Congress – the third time, after 1968 and 1981, that IPI has held its annual general meeting in Kenya. The four-day event will focus on current issues related to the challenges facing the African continent and the world, as well as topics dealing with press freedom and the communications industry.
Other invited speakers include His Highness the Aga Khan; Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize; Wole Soyinka, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature; Graca Machel Mandela, Spokesperson for the Global Movement for Children; Amos Wako, Attorney General of Kenya; and Barack Obama, the son of a Kenyan father and the only African-American member of the next U.S. Senate.
“In December 2002, the Kenyan people provided to Africa and the world an example of peaceful, democratic transition,” said Johann P. Fritz, Director of IPI. “In May 2005, the international media community will convene in Nairobi to demonstrate its support as Kenya turns a new page and to recognise the great strides this country is making on many fronts, including press freedom and freedom of expression.”
IPI, the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in over 120 countries, is dedicated to the furtherance and safeguarding of press freedom, the protection of freedom of opinion and expression, the promotion of the free flow of news and information, and the improvement of the practices of journalism.
For programme and registration details, visit the official Congress Website: www.ipikenya.com
For inquiries, please contact:
Ms. Christiane Klint
Assistant Congress Coordinator
International Press Institute (IPI)
Spiegelgasse 2
A-1010 Vienna, Austria
Tel: (431) 512 90 11
Fax: (431) 512 90 14
Email: [email protected]
www.freemedia.at
