PORT OF SPAIN, 26 June 2012 – The members of the International Press Institute on June 25 voted at their annual General Assembly to elect Umud Mirzayev of Azerbaijan to the Executive Board, to give a second four-year term to five other incumbent board members and to replace two long-serving members who are retiring.

The Executive Board, meanwhile, voted in Galina Sidorova, chairperson of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism, Foundation 19/29 and former editor-in-chief of Sovershenno Secretno in Russia, as IPI's new chairperson.Sidorova has been a member of IPI for five years, two of them serving as co-chair of the Executive Board.

“It is a great responsibility to be next on the list of my honored predecessors who did so much to safeguard press freedom all over our diverse world,” said Sidorova, who is only the second woman to serve as president of the IPI Board of Directors in its 62-year history. She replaces Carl-Eugen Eberle, former director of legal affairs at Germany’s ZDF, who served two one-year terms as chairman. “And it is a great challenge to bring a new momentum to this never-ending fight,” she added.

IPI Bangladesh National Committee Chairman Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul, Editor-in-Chief & CEO of Boishakhi TV in Bangladesh, was elected as one of three co-chairmen of the board, replacing Sidorova’s vacated co-chair seat.

Re-elected to the board for a second four-year term were Pavol Mudry, media consultant and chair of the IPI Slovak National Committee; Alexandra Föderl Schmid, editor-in-chief, Der Standard newspaper in Austria; Ferai Tinc, former columnist at Hurriyet in Istanbul and immediate-past chair of the IPI Turkey National Committee; Radomir Licina, Member of the Board & Senior Editor of Danas, Serbia; and Sidorova. Mudry is entering his third year as co-chairman of the executive board. The other co-chair is Simon Li, a media consultant in the United States.

IPI members agreed to replace IPI North American Committee Chair Patricia Smith with Ryan Blethen of The Seattle Times and the committee’s new national committee chair.

Mirzayev, national committee chairman of the IPI Azerbaijan National Committee and chairman of the International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF), said he was excited to be elected to the board and committed to growing the IPI membership in the region over the next two years with the addition of four new national committees.

The International Press Institute’s annual World Congress and 62nd General Assembly was held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago from June 23-26 under the theme: “Media in a Challenging World: A 360-degree Perspective.” More than 320 journalists from all over the world attended the event.