The official opening of training workshops by Pacific Islands New Association PINA and the Media Association of Solomon Islands will begin today at the Honiara Hotel.

Reports reaching the News desk stated that registration for the workshops will begin today at 7.30am to be followed by the official opening at 8 am. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Patterson Oti is expected to officially open the week long PINA conference.

The international convention is being jointly sponsored by PINA and the Media Association of Solomon islands MASI.

The workshops to be attended mostly by local journalists and other media workers in the country are part of the Pacific Islands News Association three-day convention will start on Tuesday.

The five separate workshops prior to the convention will cover various fields and areas of journalism discipline and discrimination of information as important aspects of development.

A common theme in the workshop is the role of the media in development. Associate members of PINA from overseas countries in the Pacific including Australia and New Zealand have already started arriving in Honiara at the weekend.