INSTITUTIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

UNEP Invites IDN-INPS Correspondent Stella Paul

Award winning Stella Paul, IDN-INPS roving correspondent in South Asia, was part of an international journalists' team invited by the UNEP to Sri Lanka. "The journalists were selected for this trip on the basis of their prior reporting excellence and experience," she says.

She filed for us an absorbing report on a theme that usually escapes general attention, a report on how the world’s only vegetarian sea mammal, the dugong living at a depth of 5-15 meters, feeding on sea grass, is being saved from extinction by resorting to hi-tech such as drones. Dugong's natural habitat is vast – stretching from Eritrea in East Africa to Vanuatu in the Pacific.

Photo: IDN-INPS' Ramesh Jaura (ledt) with UNOSSC Director Jorge Chediek at his office in New York

Getting to Know UN Office for South-South Cooperation

IDN-INPS Editor-in-Chief and Director-General Ramesh Jaura met with Jorge Chediek, Director of the UN Office for South Cooperation (UNOSSC) at his office in New York on February 17, 2017 to acquaint himself with activities of this important constitutent of the UN system.

Among the issues discussed was what South-South Cooperation really means.

Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Dr. Kairat Umarov with Ramesh Jaura

A Stimulating Meeting at the Kazakh Mission to the UN

IDN-INPS Editor-in-Chief and Director-General Ramesh Jaura had a stimulating meeting with Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Dr. Kairat Umarov, on February 8, 2017 at the Central Asian country's Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.

Before moving to New York, he was in Washington serving as Ambassador to the U.S. since January 2013 – after serving as Kazakhstan’s Deputy Foreign Minister since 2009. Prior to the Deputy Foreign Minister's post, Dr. Umarov was Ambassador to India and Sri Lanka for five years.

IDN-INPS Editor-in-Chief and DG with Cristina Gallach, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Department of Public Information (DPI) on 7 February 2017 at UN Headquarters in New York.

Introducing IDN-INPS to UNDPI Chief Cristina Gallach

In a warm-hearted meeting on February 7, 2017 at the United Nations headquarters, Ramesh Jaura, Editor-in-Chief and International Correspondent of IDN-InDepthNews introduced the International Press Syndicate (INPS) Group of which IDN is flagship agency to Ms Cristina Gallach, UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Department of Public Information (DPI).

Editorial: Onwards and Upwards in 2017

By Ramesh Jaura

We don't want to look back ... just recall that we faced numerous obstacles when we re-launched IDN-InDepthNews at the beginning of 2016 under the umbrella of the International Press Syndicate (INPS), formerly Globalom Media, established in March 2009.

As we move forward in 2017, we are very grateful to our colleagues around the world – Phil Harris, Shastri Ramachandran, A.D. McKenzie, Neena Bhadrari, Kalinga Seneviratne, Katsuhiro Asagiri, Jacques Couvas, Fabiola Ortiz, Justus Wanzala, Jeffrey Moyo, Kizito Makoye Shigela, Stella Paul, Lowana Veal, Vesna Peric Zimonjic and Lisa Vives of Global Information Network, to name just a few.

IDN-INPS Southeast Asia's Director Focuses On More Than Funds

Kalinga Seneviratne, Director of INPS Southeast Asia, has left no stone unturned in 2016 not only to explore funding sources but also to widen the outreach of IDN-INDPS in Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Crossing the frontiers, he has been sounding out potential sources in India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and even the South Pacific. In Vietnam and India he has been drawing young journalists' attention to Western prejudices, which very often tend to get implanted in the minds of the youth – much to the detriment of their independent thinking.

Talk With Hideaki Domichi, Devnet Japan's Senior Adviser

Photo (left to right): Hirotsugu Tersaaki, Director-General, Peace and Global Issues; Ramesh Jaura, Director General of INPS; Katsuhiro Asagiri, President of INPS Japan.

Calling On Soka Gakkai International (SGI)

INPS-IDN visited Mr. Hirotsugu Terasaki,Director-General, Peace and Global Issues at SGI headquarters in Tokyo to discuss media projects focusing on: Nuclear Disarmament and SDGs for All.

Photo (left to right): Ramesh Jaura, Katsuhiro Asagiri, Fumiyasu Akegawa, President of Devnet Japan, Jun Inoue Interpreter, Hidemitsu Sekiguchi, Program Coordinator.

Revisiting Devnet Japan

INPS-IDN visited Mr. Fumiyasu Akegawa, President of Devnet Japan on November 29 to assess an ongoing media project between Devnet Japan and the Global Cooperation Council (GCC) in the second year. Ramesh Jaura, who is also executive president of GCC, exchanged views with Mr. Akegawa on newly launched Devnet Japan projects in Asia.

Photo (left to right): Katsuhiro Asagiri, President of INPS Japan; Ms. Shigako Koyama, Vice Chairperson; Ramesh Jaura, INPS Director-General; Ms. Akiko Otsuki, Chairperson; and Takaaki Ishida, President of Issatsu no kai

Getting To Know 'Issatsu no Kai' (One Book Association)

INPS-IDN visited Issatsu no kai, a Japanese NGO, dealing with gender empowerment for 50 years, at its office in Tokyo on November 29 to assess recent cooperation including FAWA convention in Singapore in September and the official visit of King and Queen of the Kingdom of Lesotho in November, co-organized by them. Both parties explored further cooperation in connection with Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the empowerment of women.