WAN-IFRA calls off annual conference in Beirut

The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has cancelled its annual conference citing financial problems with the host organisation.

The conference was due to run from 7 to 10 June in Beirut, Lebanon, but has been called off, according to a release from WAN-IFRA.

This is the second time in the past year the conference has been hit by problems: its 2009 conference in Hyderabad, India, was postponed from March to November, because of the impact of the economic crisis on registrations for the event.

But according to the organisation 700 people were already registered for the Beirut conference. Next month's event has been cancelled because local host the An-Nahar newspaper has said it can no longer cover the estimated €1.6 million costs of the venue, security and other expenses that it had agreed to cover. The newspaper told WAN-IFRA that “the aftermath of the 2009 financial, economic and political crisis in the region” meant it was unable to provide the agreed funds.

"It is with immense disappointment that we are forced to call off our events in Beirut, but it was simply impossible to go ahead without the commitment of our Lebanese colleagues, who were responsible for security and other significant infrastructural and service expenses," said Gavin O'Reilly, president of WAN-IFRA.

"We deeply regret that we cannot bring these events to Lebanon, particularly as this will cause immense inconvenience for our members, but this is not feasible without a local partner."

The World Editors Forum (WEF), which was scheduled to run alongside the WAN-IFRA congress, has been postponed rather than cancelled. The (WEF) event will now run from 6-8 October in Hamburg, Germany, following an IFRA EXPO. The annual presentations of the Golden Pen of Freedom award and the World Press Trends update scheduled for the WAN-IFRA congress will be made at the WEF conference.

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