Iringa Press Club (IPC) will hold its Annual General Meeting tomor-row 15 March 2003. H.E. Mr Sten Rylander, Ambassador of Sweden, has been invited as the Guest of Honour. The meeting will, among other things, provide members of the Club with an opportunity to exercise their democratic rights by electing their leaders for the next three years. The new leaders will be installed at a coulorful ceremony to be held after the elections. The General Meeting and the cere-mony will also be attended by representatives of the Media Council of Tanzania (MCT), the Union of Tanzania Press Clubs (UTPC) and Mwanza Press Club (MPC) - which have facilitated the process of establishing regional press clubs in the country, as well as local dignitaries and journalists from various media organisations.IPC will receive assistance within the framework of the Swedish sup-port through MCT, amounting to TSH 430 million and extended in August 2002, to assist the regional press clubs in Tanzania. The main objective of the Swedish support is to ensure that regional press clubs are strong organisations, which enhance professional standards and ethics and contribute to strengthening democratic va-lues, as well as support development efforts in their respective re-gions. The support includes basic and specialised training, provision of IT and communication equipments, as well as enhancing the orga-nisational capacity of the press clubs. The implementation process is proceeding well. In December last year the Swedsih Ambassador was in Mwanza to inaugurate Mwanza Press Club´s Environmental Awareness Program; early this year he was in Pemba to launch the first regional press club in Zanzibar and tomorrow he will be in Iringa to witness how journalists exercise democracy in action and not only in words.In his speech at the ceremony Ambassador Rylander will warmly congratulate the IPC for being in the forefront of the process of establishing viable press clubs in the regions, thereby paving the way for free and independent media on a national scale. "I urge the IPC and all media practitioners in the region to stick to professional and objective reporting. I also commend you for covering the develop-ment needs and challenges in the Iringa Region so well. During my stay in Tanzania I have seen many good reports coming from here, not least in the important field of HIV/AIDS where your Region are now developing impressive best practiceses, which can hopefully be emulated in our parts of the country".