It is a great pleasure and honour to welcome you to our fourth consecutive M100 Media Colloquium here in Potsdam. It is a particular honour to host some of the leading media representatives once again.

Last year, the leading journalists from the Arab world and Europe gathered in Potsdam to embark on discussions concerning their various perspectives
and ways of practicing journalism.Of course, when we discussed these year's topics - Caucasus, Russia and Central Asia - it was hardly foreseeable that the recent conflicts in the region would attribute such delicacy to our discussions. It is thus a particular joy that, despite the crisis in the caucasus, representatives from these regions can be amongst us.

Direct and personal contact remains of the utmost importance today, even though we are living in a world of high-speed communication. It is of particular importance to maintain personal dialogue.I hope that we could achieve a fruitful and rigorous debate.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the events of the past month have clearly demonstrated that the power and the responsibility of the journalists and the media are of profound significance. They are, especially at the beginning of an event, the eyes and ears of the world and the only source of information.

If the further structures are not functioning anymore or, if they are in danger of being corrupted by one side of the conflict, it is the particular responsibility of the media to strive for truth and objectivity. Especially at the beginning of a conflict, there is the danger that the parties involved are categorised according to the 'good' and 'bad' guys, without paying closer attentions to detailed and encompassingn reporting.

All of you, who carry such responsibility, have used this morning's discussion for an intensive dialogue. At first sight, this may seem a small, unimportant gesture in relation to the events that took place. Nonetheless, even those gestures can be a sign of hope.

Hence, the embracing of the Georgian and Russian athletes at the shooting events in Beijing have been in the focus of the reporting as a sign of peace and friendship. I have admired these athletes for their courage, who, despite the escalating situation in Georgia, were able to put their countries' rivalries aside and to portray such a sign of hope.

M100 is therefore expresses the wish that we can provide a platform for debate between representatives from the media around the world.

We are glad to have such strong partners supporting this unique conference. There are, for instance, the Media-Board-Brandenburg and the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg that have supported us right from the start. In addition, this year, the Auswärtige Amt does not only contribute financially to the success of the conference, but also guaranteed that all participants could get the required visas. Many thanks for that. Air Berlin brought the majority of the participants to Berlin - from Moscow, London, Paris, Zurich - and Audi was responsible for the transfer of the guests to Potsdam. Thank you so much for all your support and, of course, we hope that we can continue our successful cooperation.

Perhaps, this conference would not have changed the political framework conditions, but it has certainly contributed to a sharpening of our consciousness for friends and neighbours abroad. And this, I think, is a good first step in the right direction.

I am now looking forward to hearing from John Lloyd from the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford a conclusion of this morning's working sessions. Thank you