Then, the President of the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) Abdullah bin Fahd Al-Hussein, who is the Chairman of UNA general assembly, made a speech in which he said: "this special session of the General Assembly of UNA, represents an opportunity to activate the role of the Union, and enable it to deal with the media challenges in our Islamic world, and work to unify the efforts of UNA members within the framework of principles and covenants of the joint Islamic action, guided by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and endorsed by the decisions of conferences of Islamic information ministers. " SPA President added: "Our member countries face many intellectual and media challenges. We have to pay great media attention to our common issues, topped by the question of Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif. We have also to attach great importance to creating a strong media discourse to combat terrorism and extremism, criticize it, falsify its allegations and suspicions, refute it, and divulge its explicit contradiction with the principles of our true religion. Al-Hussein pointed out the need to develop the work of news agencies in many member countries, citing the level of technical structure, as well as the professional level of journalists, to qualify them to keep pace with the technological transformations in the contemporary media publishing and materials arenas, and allow them reach the recipients, stressing the need to extend bridges of dialogue with international agencies outside the OIC countries, to address stereotypes and promote tolerance among different cultures. The Union of News Agencies of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation was, since its conversion from an "Islamic News Agency" to " the Union of News Agencies", according to a decision issued by the General Assembly on October 15, 2017, intended to form a set of programs that wholly deals with these challenges, as these programs require the support of all member agencies, to implement them in a manner that achieves our aspirations, SPA President said. In this regard, he affirmed the support of the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) for UNA, based on the historical obligations of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to support the institutions of joint Islamic action and its keenness to utilize its accumulated capabilities and expertise to serve media institutions in Islamic countries. The Union aspires, through support and guidance, to intensify its efforts during the coming period, to serve its member States in several areas, the President of the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) who is also President of UNA said, citing the promotion of news exchange among member news agencies, as UNA has worked on building a news platform to provide reliable joint media content in building authentic knowledge about Islamic countries, so that our agencies would become the source we rely on to know the news of our countries, and the developments witnessed at all levels, a measure, he said, could reduce dependence on foreign agencies for information, as well as the phenomenon of one-way news flow, which often leads to providing an unreal image of our countries. Al-Hussein pointed out to building the media capabilities among member news agencies, through training programs aiming at upgrading the level of workers in member agencies, and qualify them to adapt to the current massive information flow, and the vast expansion in the fields of human knowledge, as all this requires a distinguished media content capable of attraction and persuasion. He stressed the importance of enhancing coordination and communication among member agencies on one hand, and with international agencies on the other hand, as well as those in charge of managing foreign media, to encourage cultural dialogue, and enhance the media implications of pluralism, tolerance, and coexistence in the media. --SPA 22:07 LOCAL TIME 19:07 GMT 0030 www.spa.gov.sa/w1227791