9th Exhibition "Press-2002" Opens In Moscow

The ninth annual exhibition "Press-2002" opened on Wednesday, at the All-Russian Exhibition Center in Moscow, with over 1,000 newspapers, magazines, news agencies, and publishing houses from over 100 Russian and CIS cities participating. Gennady Seleznev, speaker of the State Duma, (lower house of parliament) said in his greeting speech that he believed that the exhibition would promote an increase of Russia's economic potential and preserve its cultural foundations. As part of the exhibition seminars and conferences will take place devoted to the role of the press in society and its relations with authority. The exhibition features a stand of RIA Novosti, a major Russian news agency. This year RIA Novosti celebrates three jubilees - the 60th anniversary of the Soviet Information Bureau, 40 years of the Novosti Press Agency, and the 10th anniversary of RIA Novosti. At the exhibition, visitors can get familiarized with the basic news products: Hot Line, Economic News, Moscow Diary, online Chronicle of events and get presentation access to RIA Novosti's specialized and paid products. Apart from that, one can get acquainted with the services provided by RIA Novosti's separate divisions: one of the largest photo services in Russia, TV production board, translation service, reference service, etc. The first Press exhibition in Moscow was held in 1993. In 1999 the total number of visitors at the 7th exhibition was a record total of more than 100,000 people.