The European Audiovisual Observatory has announced that Switzerland will hold the group's presidency in 2008.

The Strasbourg-based Observatory, which is part of the Council of Europe, elected Switzerland its president as the executive council on Nov 9.

The country is represented on the executive council by Frederic Riehl, deputy director of the Swiss Federal Office of Communications.

He said: 'Switzerland held the very first Presidency of the European Audiovisual Observatory in 1993, just after its creation. It is clear that the audiovisual sector in Europe has undergone a complete transformation since then. The sector now faces new challenges related to new technologies. Because of this, the industry and governments really need to have reliable and complete statistics to hand.'

Wolfgang Closs, executive director of the Observatory, reiterated plans that scope of the Observatory would continue to widen to include new areas such as multimedia and new technologies under the Swiss Presidency.

The 2007 presidency was Romanian, represented by Delia Mucica.

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