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• With this service, EFE, the first news agency in Spanish, seeks to cover the global market

AGENCIA EFE and EPA (European Pressphoto Agency) have launched from Bangkok a new joint multimedia service in English, with which the first Spanish-speaking news agency seeks to reach for the first time the global market.

At the ceremony, which took place at the Thailand Foreign Correspondents’ Club took the floor AGENCIA EFE’s Chairman, Mr. José Antonio Vera, and EPA’s Managing Director, Mr. Joerg Schierenbeck, both of which were introduced by the Spanish Ambassador in Bangkok, Ms. Carmen Moreno.

'EFE has become the first news agency in Spanish language in the world, with a history of more than 75 years, and the fourth news agency in the world after AP, Reuters and AFP', reminded Mr. Vera, who highlighted that the news agency has already services in Spanish, Arabic and Portuguese, for the markets which make use of those languages.

Then, he stressed the need of setting up the new service, because, as he admitted, “we have a very poor presence” in English-speaking media.

A multimedia service for the Asian continent

“We have chosen Bangkok for setting up the multimedia service for the (Asian) continent because of its infrastructure and its strategic location” said Mr. Vera referring to the office which has already began to operate in Thailand’s capital, and which, together with those at Cairo and San Juan-Miami will supply news items to the new service, which will be coordinated from EFE’s main office in Madrid, Spain.

'AGENCIA EFE’s unfinished business is that of turning into a global news agency” pointed out Mr. in his statements to EFE.

'That is why, in order to establish a service in Asia it was necessary to do so in English, as it could not be in any other language, and with an ally such as EPA, with which we have been linked for a long time, and for whom we are a partner of reference ', he added.

EFE’s Chairman pointed out that initiatives like this one “are very needed by Spain”, whose news in no-Spanish media are written by no-Spanish news agencies, something which he described as “awful”. “This is something which we have to solve, without that meaning that other international news agencies cannot continue covering Spanish news” he warned.

Bridge between continents

EPA’s Chairman, Mr. Joerg Schierenbeck, praised in his speech that the project “constitutes a bridge between continents, which combines EFE’s experience and power with EPA’s global vision in Asia”.

He also pointed out that the new service 'backs up EPA as one of the most important graphical information news agencies'.

In her short introduction, Spain’s Ambassador in Bangkok, Ms. Carmen Moreno, stressed that EFE has always been focused on the Spanish language and that traditionally it has expanded on its areas of influence.

'But in order to expand into a continent like Asia it required a powerful partner, such as EPA” pointed out Ms. Moreno, whose Embassy sponsored the event.

The Spanish state-owned news agency Agencia EFE, which was incorporated in 1939, is the first news agency in the world in Spanish language, and the fourth in the world; it is present in more than 120 countries, and distributes almost 3 Million news items per year on different media supports.

Set up in 1985 by seven European news agencies, EPA was thought up as a tool for exchanging images among its members due to the lack of alternatives in the English-speaking market, and it has generated since its creation more than 5 Million photographs, thanks to a network made up by 400 professional photographers on the five continents.

AGENCIA EFE and Grupo SEPI

The Spanish state-owned news agency AGENCIA EFE is part of Grupo SEPI, a corporate holding which includes a total of 16 state-owned companies in which it has direct, majority shareholding participations, with a workforce of around 73,000 professionals in 2014; the Spanish state-owned television and radio corporation, Corporación Radiotelevisión Española, which is attached to SEPI, and one public foundation. Equally, SEPI has direct minority shareholdings in a further ten companies, and indirect shareholdings in more than one hundred companies.