The Inter-American Development Bank will provide free, unrestricted and extensive satellite-broadcast coverage of its Annual Meeting in Guatemala City, from March 16 to 20, to news services and radio and television broadcasters in the Americas.
The IDB is the leading source of multilateral financing for economic and social development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Ministers of finance, central bank presidents and other authorities from the IDB’s 47 member countries attend its Annual Meeting.
A team of reporters and cameras will be on hand to assist foreign news services and Guatemalan media with specific requests on topics of interest for their audiences. Every effort will be made to accommodate such requests.
In addition to the general coverage of statements by participating officials, contract signings and conclusions of meetings, news services this year will include reports on IDB coordination with the MTV network in the production of a documentary and on the development of youth leadership in the region. Reports on the IDB campaign against human trafficking will also be provided.
TELEVISION
The IDB will provide daily satellite broadcasts through INTELSAT of reports on issues of general interest and statements by heads of state, ministers of finance and other officials participating in the meeting. The reports will be distributed with narration, but broadcasters may edit the material as they deem necessary, adding their own audio. For easy reference, the video scripts will be available on the Annual Meeting website at http://www.iadb.org/am/2007.
The schedule, satellite transmission coordinates and content description of each broadcast will be sent to all broadcasters on March 16.
RADIO
Radio broadcasters will be able to download MP3 files with statements by officials and other meeting participants from the IDB website at http://www.iadb.org/am/2007. Complete audio reports with scripts will also be available.
The free radio news service will begin broadcasting on March 16.
If you would like this information to be sent to another e-mail address or fax number in your organization, please contact María del Carmen Siccardi by telephone at (506) 446-6485 or (506) 353-9193 or by e-mail at mariasi@iadb.org.
PRESS REGISTRATION
Members of the press (including print, radio, and television) wishing to cover the meeting should pre-register online by March 9 at http://www.iadb.org/am/2007.
Beginning on Thursday, March 15, members of the press must register with IDB staff in Salon Cipres of the InterContinental Hotel in Guatemala City.
At the on-site registration, journalists will be asked to provide the following so that an identification badge, which will give them access to the meeting rooms, can be issued.
Guatemalan journalists: a government-issued photo identification document, a letter from their media stating that they have been assigned to cover the meeting and press credentials.
Foreign journalists: valid passport and press credentials (with photograph) or a letter from their news service stating that they have been assigned to cover the meeting.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Journalists will find background information on the webpage for the Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the IDB and IIC. IDB Backgrounders are available on such topics as: “The IDB in Brief,” “The IDB and Guatemala,” “The IDB and the Environment,” “The IDB and the Social Sectors,” “The IDB and Indigenous Peoples,” “The IDB and the Majority in Latin America and the Caribbean” and “The IDB’s New Initiatives.” They can be found on the IDB website at http://www.iadb.org/am/2007/press.cfm.