His Majesty King Abdullah on Thursday met with International Press Institute (IPI) Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie, following the recent conclusion of IPI’s annual World Congress in Amman.

During the meeting, King Abdullah expressed appreciation for the globally renowned institute’s selection of Jordan as a venue to hold its annual World Congress, reiterating that responsible and professional media is a partner in making the future, and a monitoring tool to realise comprehensive development and strengthen the reform path.

His Majesty pointed to the potential areas of cooperation between the IPI and local media establishments with the aim to develop and advance media performance on the basis of professionalism and objectivity, and to ensure a balance between press freedom and responsibility.

For her part, McKenzie briefed His Majesty on the key themes and issues tackled by the conference as well as its most important resolutions that serve the message of journalism and press freedoms.

McKenzie also expressed appreciation for Jordan’s efforts to faciliate the event and ensure its success.

The meeting was attended by Chief of the Royal Hashemite Court Fayez Tarawneh, Director of His Majesty’s Office Imad Fakhoury, IPI Vice-Chair John Yearwood, IPI Executive Board Member Daoud Kuttab, and Executive President of the Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ), the co-organiser of the conference, Nidal Mansour.