Over 3,200 delegates are expected to attend the Umno general assembly 2016 at the Putra World Trade Centre from Nov 29 to Dec 3.

Its executive secretary, Ab Rauf Yusoh, said they include 282 representatives and observers from 80 other countries.

"A total of 700 students of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) will be appointed as temporary staff to help ensure smooth running of the assembly," he said after chairing the Umno general assembly media coordination meeting in Kuala Lumpur today.

Ab Rauf said 1,400 media practitioners were also expected to cover the assembly this year.

The assembly will kick off with president's message on Nov 29, followed by the simultaneous opening of the assemblies of the three Umno wings - Wanita, Youth and Puteri - in the evening.

The assemblies of the three wings will take place on Nov 30 before the opening of the party's three-day general assembly on Dec 1.

The coordination meeting held today was aimed at gathering information and input from the media to enable the Umno secretariat to prepare the necessary facilities and services, to ensure that the media coverage of the assembly would run smoothly.

Present were the prime minister's press secretary Tengku Sharifuddin Tengku Ahmad, deputy prime minister's press secretary Brig-Gen Fadlette Othman and media representatives.

Meanwhile, Ab Rauf said the secretariat was also looking for best approaches to oversee the dissemination of information during the assembly in a bid to ensure that the information would not be abused or manipulated.

"The live telecast of the Umno assembly proceedings, which used to be provided for the public at Level 2 of the PWTC, for example, had been abused by certain quarters to launch attacks on Umno," he said, adding that the preparations for this year's assembly had to be done meticulously due to the current political situation. ­

- Bernama