Representatives of the news agencies attending the three-day conference and general assembly of the Association of the Balkan News Agencies - Southeastern Europe (ABNA-SE) had the opportunity to visit the Cisco International Center for Digital Transformation and Digital Skills in Thessaloniki on the occasion of their presence in northern Greece. The group had earlier visited the city of Naoussa.

During their visit, they were informed by its executives about the operation of the Center, which is dedicated to the development of practical solutions, applying the innovative technologies developed by Cisco and its ecosystem of partners, as well as to start-ups and educational and research institutions. Its strategic location, meanwhile, makes it accessible not only from Greece but also from the Balkans and the wider region of Southeastern Europe.

"With the visit to Cisco, where we met with an excellent welcome and hospitality, we presented them with the modern face of the region," noted the president and general director of the Athens-Macedonian News Agency Aimilios Perdikaris, who is the current ABNA-SE chair, thanking the Cisco executives for their hospitality and wider support.

Cisco was one of the sponsors of the ABNA-SE conference.

Summarising the actions of the three-day ABNA-SE meeting in Thessaloniki, Perdikaris, underlined: "The main thing is that these three days of the conference, the visit to Naoussa and the Cisco Center as well as the general assembly left our guests with the best impressions, so, through this, we can say that the purpose of this conference, which we held in the framework of our ABNA-SE presidency, was fully achieved. We have shown exactly what we can do and achieve and now we will continue to work, at the Association's presidency, not only for enlargement, as we did with the acceptance of Italy's admission, not only for initiatives such as the Thessaloniki Declaration, which we signed for the fight against fake news, but also for other initiatives aimed at strengthening the Association and contributing to its further expansion."