The proposal aims to create a unified account for all GCC news agencies on social networking systems.
BNA Acting Director Muhannad Suleiman said the move was in line with the directives of President of the Information Affairs Authority (IAA) Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa to avail of the social networking systems to further serve the GCC media march.
The workshop spotlighted technical procedures to update the GCC unified accounts on the social networking systems by using cutting-edge technologies in this regard and agreeing names on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube, he revealed.
To ensure success of GCC cooperation in the social networking field, it has been agreed to hold periodic meetings for technical officials twice a year and a meeting via the Internet in a fortnight to speed up implementation of the project and boost cooperation among the GCC news agencies.
The first meeting is set to be held on October 16, 2011, Suleiman added pointing out that BNA will take charge of arranging for the meetings and following up on technical matters by coordinating with officials from the GCC news agencies.
Qatar and Kuwait news agencies will present a model of the proposed logo for the unified account.
He said that a proposal has been made to earmark a joint budget to be used in marketing for the unified account and ensuring it achieves its forecast goals.
Because of the need for a unified website for all GCC news agencies, Qatar News Agency has proposed to activate the idea of creating the GCC News Agencies website to provide a comprehensive news service. A full vision of the project and proposed primary designs will be submitted to the Secretariat General before presenting them to the news agencies directors in their next meeting.
In line with a proposal by the Emirates News Agency to launch a GCC application on iPhone, the agency has been tasked to address technical companies and submit a proposal in this regard which will be placed before the GCC news agencies directors in their next meeting.
The agency will also create a social networking account for professionals (Linkedin.com) to facilitate communication among officials.
The GCC news agencies will also provide technical support for one another and exchange news services pertaining mainly to the networking systems, it was revealed.
The meeting also spotlighted ways of carrying out the joint media work strategy 2010/2020 which was approved at Abu Dhabi summit last year.