On July 23, the first session of the international educational project SputnikPro took place in Kabul. Vasily Pushkov, Director of the International Cooperation Directorate, and Akifi Khaibar, producer of Sputnik Afghanistan, spoke before journalists from the Afghan Voice Agency.
A welcoming address on behalf of the Afghan side was given by Seyed Isa Hosseini Mazari, editor-in-chief of the Afghan Voice Agency, who noted the importance of cooperation between Russia and Afghanistan in the media sphere and pointed to the need for countries of the Global Majority to join forces in countering various disinformation campaigns.
On behalf of Sputnik, Vasily Pushkov, Director of the International Cooperation Directorate, gave the opening remarks, emphasizing the need to further deepen Russian-Afghan cooperation not only in the field of information exchange, but also in building long-term and fruitful cooperation between the two countries across the broadest possible range.
A lecture for the Afghan colleagues was delivered by Akifi Khaibar, producer of Sputnik Afghanistan. The audience in Kabul consisted of journalists and staff of the Afghan Voice Agency. After the lecture, participants took part in a question-and-answer session, during which the Afghan colleagues shared their views on the topic under discussion and took part in a debate about the importance of using modern and up-to-date tools in the work of major news agencies.
The Afghan Voice Agency is one of the largest news agencies in Afghanistan, founded in Kabul in 2001. In addition to its central office in Kabul, the agency has bureaus in Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif, Bamiyan, Ghazni, and Kandahar, as well as foreign bureaus in Iran.
SputnikPro is a project run by Sputnik International News Agency and Radio Broadcaster for journalists, students of relevant universities, press service staff, and media managers, aimed at exchanging experience and developing professional ties with foreign colleagues. The project’s modules are led by media managers from Sputnik and invited experts. The sessions cover various aspects of journalistic work, including multimedia content production, social media work, and the development of digital media.
Since 2018, in-person meetings of the project have been held in dozens of countries, and online sessions have reached a broad international audience. The total number of SputnikPro participants exceeds 15,000. The session for the Afghan Voice Agency was the project’s first event aimed at an Afghan audience.
