The General Assembly of the African Union of Broadcasting (AUB) has announced that the Gambia will host its 2026 conference.
This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the 2025 AUB Conference held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
The announcement followed the formal acceptance of the hosting offer by the representative of The Gambia’s government and the Director General of the Gambia Broadcasting Service.
New Members Admitted
Voice of Nigeria reports that the 85-member media group admitted two new associate members into the organisation: the National China Radio and Television Administration Centre (NCRTA) and the United Arab Emirates’ Audio-Visual News Agency, Viory.
Collaborations
The communiqué adopted the position of African Ministers of Information and Communications in calling for increased collaboration among media organisations across the continent.
Ministers who spoke in support of content-sharing partnerships included Monsieur Amadou Coulibaly of Côte d’Ivoire (host country), Manuel D’Ndong of Equatorial Guinea, and Botswana’s Minister of Information and Communication, represented by Permanent Secretary Madam Maithlenyane Batsee.
Unity of Purpose
The media group also endorsed a call by the Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire, His Excellency, Sem Robert Beugré Mambé, for African broadcasting organisations to demonstrate unity of purpose and use the media as a tool of soft power in international affairs.
According to the Prime Minister, “Africa has a lot of positive stories on morality, cultural renaissance, sports, and tourism which can be shared with the world.”
He added that the future of AUB rests on “a framework of cooperation from continental to intercontinental levels.”
Conference Theme
The 2025 AUB Conference was held under the theme: “Developing African Media: What Strategies for Financial, Technological, and Innovative Control Resilience.”
Key Focus Areas Included:
Broadcasting and Digital Transition: Challenges, innovation, and prospects for African audio-visual development.
Financial Resilience of Broadcast Media: Anticipate, manage, and prosper.
Innovation in Content: Create, impact, and stand out in a competitive environment.
Panel discussions featured public and private broadcasters from across Africa, as well as representatives of international development partners from Europe and North America.
Special Project Presentations Included:
The China Media Group’s use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in media production.
A joint AUB–UNESCO advocacy on media and information education.
Cultural Excursion
The two-day conference concluded with an excursion to historic sites in Abidjan, the Ivorian capital.
The event was attended by public and private broadcasting organisations, faith-based media such as MTA International Africa, and development partners from more than 40 African countries, as well as from Europe and North America.