The 1st World Press Briefing for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will be held in Beijing 25-29 September 2006, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) announced today.

The 1st World Press Briefing is designed to provide international news organizations with the ability to review first hand the preparations for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. It will offer attendees a comprehensive review of the facilities and services that will be available for the accredited media during the Olympic Games so they can effectively start to plan and budget their Games time coverage and logistics.

The Briefing will comprise of venue tours, inspections of accommodation facilities and a one day briefing which will include reports from BOCOG departments on the sports, competition schedule and planned facilities and services designed for the media at the Main Press Center and venues, as well as media accommodation, transport, accreditation, rate card, technology, photo and news services.

Attendees will also have the additional opportunity to attend city and urban tours of historical sites such as the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and Hutong districts for unique photo opportunities and a taste of the country's unique history and culture.

BOCOG will utilize the ideas and suggestions proposed by the international press during the briefing to further define and fine tune its media services and venue operation plans.

First developed for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, World Press Briefings have proven a valuable tool for Olympic organizers to provide up-to-date information about Olympic preparations to the media while helping the news organizations plan their media coverage. More than 100 delegates representing many of the world's major news agencies and newspapers, as well as some broadcast news organizations, National Olympic Committees and International Sporting Federations, will attend the briefing.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will hold its important annual IOC Press Commission meeting in Beijing on Monday 25 September, in conjunction with the World Press Briefing.

The IOC Press Commission will debrief the recent Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games, as well as receive detailed progress reports from the Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 organizing committees.

The Olympic Games is the largest media event in the world with over 21,600 media --16,000 broadcasters and 5,600 press and photographers representing over 200 countries -- who will be accredited to cover the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, held from 8-24 August 2008.

(BOCOG May 22, 2006)