UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC INFORMATION ADDRESSES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION CONFERENCE

UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC INFORMATION

ADDRESSES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION CONFERENCE

SAN DIEGO, 25 May -- Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information of the United Nations, gave a keynote address at the fifty-third Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA):  "Communication in Borderlands" on Sunday, 25 May.

Through his plenary address Mr. Tharoor inaugurated ICA's status as a non-governmental organization associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI).  The ICA's mission is to advance the scholarly study of human communication, focusing on media, information and technology in developmental communication worldwide.

Mr. Tharoor highlighted some of the opportunities this new relationship with the DPI will create for ICA members to serve the world community.  He announced a grant provided to the ICA by the United Nations Foundation for the purposes of establishing an annual United Nations Foundation Award for the best research on the effectiveness and impact of United Nations public information and communication activities.

During the five-day conference, held in San Diego, California, from 23 to 27 May, an estimated 1,700 scholars attended over 300 presentations representing the latest advances in the field of communications.

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