The Broadcasting Coordination Council (BCC) and the Electronic Press Association APEL have signed a cooperation agreement, pledging to work together to implement the normative documents regulating the national audiovisual. The initiative belongs to the BCC. Its chairman, Gheorghe Gorincioi, has stated at a press conference on Monday that the Council makes continuous efforts to ensure the development of the audiovisual institutions. However, to achieve perceivable results, a close cooperation with the civil society is indispensable. That is why the idea of signing a cooperation agreement with APEL appealed to us, said Gorincioi, adding that the BCC invites all the interested NGOs in the field to join. Gheorghe Gorincioi told reporters that the two organisations have already worked out several joint projects, including the Broadcasters’ Code of Ethics, which is to be discussed at a roundtable on December 12 and 13. Besides this, the Agreement provides for developing projects to modernise the equipment of the BCC’s monitoring centre as well as to set up new local monitoring centres in Balti, Soroca, Edinet, and Comrat. Surveying the ratings of broadcasters’ popularity could also form an area of cooperation between the parties to the Agreement, the BCC chairman said. APEL chairman Alexandru Dorogan stated for his part that the Agreement represents a new step forward in implementing the Broadcasting Code and European standards in the Moldovan audiovisual. We are looking to work together on some legislative initiatives to amend the present Code or even put forward an updated version, and this Agreement could help the authorities avoid repeating the mistake of not asking public opinion, said Alexandru Dorogan. Ion Bunduchi, APEL director, specified that by signing the Agreement, the parties have shown willingness to cooperate, which doesn’t mean that the BCC is obliged to accept all the proposals by APEL. At the same time, APEL reserves itself the right to censure the actions by the BCC that it considers to be unjust. The Cooperation Agreement between BCC and APEL has an unlimited term.