Updated: 08/11/05

LONDON, Aug. 10 (UPI) --

The U.N. Development Program announced Wednesday that a project to create Iraq's first independent news agency is under way, thanks to international support.


"The establishment of an independent news agency represents an important step toward the strengthening of professional journalism in Iraq and an incomparable means to facilitate social dialogue and promote democracy," said Director of U.N. Development Program-Iraq Paolo Lembo, in remarks from London.


Last year, the U.N. Development Program helped establish Aswat al-Iraq, or "Voices of Iraq," an Internet-based information hub that publishes more than 600 news items each month, the U.N. agency said.


The U.N. Development Program said with the support of Reuters Foundation and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation, it has begun to expand Aswat-al-Iraq into a comprehensive news agency reporting from all 18 governorates of Iraq.

Reuters Editor in Chief Geert Linnebank said the news agency would be staffed and managed by Iraqi journalists. Reuters Foundation sponsored journalism trainings for more than 50 Voices of Iraq contributors, with additional training planned for journalists recruited for the agency.