Conference confident public broadcasters can hold own in competitive market

Co-operation agreement with Israel should make it easier to catch smugglers A custom's co-operation agreement signed between Poland and Israel will give customs officers in both countries more power in the fight against smuggling. The agreement allows for the exchange of information, co-operation in investigations, joint practices and harmonization of law. For example, unlike Israeli custom officers, Polish customs officer have to inform the police if they are to use a decoy, such as a packet containing drugs, in a sting operation in order to trap smugglers. (Prawo i Gospodarka, page 1, 9) M.M. The 6th Conference of Ministerial European Council on Public Broadcasting is meeting in Krakow. The conference is held every three years. "At the last conference, we declared our readiness to organize the next one in Poland and, after beating two other candidates, we were chosen as this year's host," said the head of the National Radio and TV Council (KKRiT) Juliusz Braun. Participants emphasized the role of the public media as competition from private media grows. British delegate Alan Howarth said he is convinced the public media can successfully defend itself against the private media threat because the quality of its programming is generally better. (Rzeczpospolita, page A3) A.Z.