Dr. Roberto Savio

Chair World Social Forum's Commission for Communication, President Emeritus of Inter Press Service - Italy

Graduated in Economics, Savio was responsible for the Italian Christian Democratic Party's relations with developing countries before becoming international press chief for Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro. He was then Director for News Services for Latin America with RAI, Italy's national broadcaster.

In 1964 he founded Inter Press Service (IPS), a non-profit co-operative of journalists and experts specialising in global communications for development, acknowledged by the UN.

He then left Italian politics to pursue journalism, as a consultant on information and communication issues for developing countries.

Founder and managing director of the Technological Information Pilot System (TIPS), a major UN project to implement and foster technological and economic co-operation between developing countries, he has also been actively involved with international communication issues, introducing the Development Press Bulletin Service Tariff in UNESCO's International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems.

He is Secretary General Emeritus of the Society for International Development (SID),

Senior Advisor for Strategies and Communication to the Director General of the ILO and

Member of the Board of Directors of the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe.

Member of the International Committee of Porto Alegre World Social Forum, he was Coordinator of the 'Media, Culture and Counter-Hegemony' thematic area of the III World Forum in 2003 and Secretary General the foundation of Media Watch International.

He received a number of awards for TV documentaries, produced films and published several books, the latest of which is "Verbo America", dealing with the cultural identity of Latin America.