AFP strenghtens focus on Central Asia

Agence France-Presse global news agency announced here Monday plans to enhance its coverage of Kazakhstan and the other countries of Central Asia, stressing that the region already plays a pivotal role in world affairs and is only likely to grow in importance.

"We feel there is a story here, an ongoing story that we want to tell the world about," AFP chairman Pierre Louette said at a news conference in Almaty, Kazakhstan's cultural and business capital, where the agency has established a permanent regional office to coordinate its multimedia coverage of the region.

"We hope that a growing number of people will understand that it is a region that has its own sense in history and a growing role in the world," Louette explained to national and international media at the news conference.

Agence France-Presse, the world's oldest news agency, has since 1991 provided coverage from Central Asia and today draws on a network of six satellite offices in five countries. But its new Almaty office marks a redoubling of its news-gathering efforts in this strategically vital region.

In addition to providing breaking news coverage in real time from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, AFP is also committed to serving its customers with in-depth features, news analyses and focus stories with the aim of providing a broad, constantly updated picture of what the countries of Central Asia are and how they are impacting the wider world.