Seoul, November 16, AZERTAC

A project of Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC) has ranked fifth in a contest conducted among the member agencies of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA). According to results of “Perfectness” contest, which was held among 44 agencies from 35 countries, Korean Yonhap became the first, while Turkish Anadolu Agency second, Russian TASS third, and Chinese Xinhua fourth.

The 39th OANA Executive Board Meeting is being held at the head office of Yonhap, South Korea's top news wire.

Chaired by OANA Secretary General, First Deputy Director General of TASS Mikhail Gusman, the meeting discusses organizational issues.

"Rossiya Segodnya" news agency became a member of OANA, and the participants decided to hold the next Executive Board Meeting in Bahrain.

Director General of AZERTAC Aslan Aslanov addressed the event. He applauded OANA's paying attention to the advanced technologies “as they impact the development of news agencies”. “It is very important, from a professional point of view, for each of us to apply what we have discussed here today. Rapid growth of social media and mobile technologies necessitates us being always prepared for changes. Indeed, news agencies are at the stage of the adaptation to an environment when we have an abundance of information sources.” Mr Aslanov said: “We should use social media and mobile technologies in the flexible possible manner in order to ensure the timely delivery of news to consumers. People`s choosing their source of news will depend on how effectively we work. Technologies are changing, and we are also changing. New generations bring new technologies, new approaches, new ideas. But we should be guided by the main principle which remains to be unchanged: this is the spread of accurate and quality news.” “The fact that these issues are on our agenda today demonstrates that the organization attaches particular emphasis to the future progress of our agencies. Once again I would like to thank the management of OANA and Yonhap agency for structuring today`s session in this extremely well manner,” he said.

The Director General provided some statistics about Azerbaijan. “The number of internet users in Azerbaijan is increasing at a rapid pace. Azerbaijan prevails by 17% the global average of mobile users. Some 74% of the country's population have an internet access. According to GlobalStat, 45 % of the Azerbaijani users access social media through mobile devices.”

Mr Aslanov said AZERTAC attaches particular emphasis to applying advanced mobile technologies. “We have completely renewed the mobile version our website in the past year, with photo and video content becoming more accessible.” “The content of the website`s mobile version is available in seven languages. Half of the total number of AZERTAC`s webpage views have come from mobile device users in the past year. At the same time, nearly 40 % of the views made from social networks have come from mobile devices. With this in view, the agency is working to increase the functionality of the mobile version of its webpage and ensure easier access for its users,” Mr Aslanov added.

Other speakers included Deputy Director General of Anadolu Agency Metin Mutanoglu, President of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) and Chief Executive Officer of British Press Association Clive Marshall, General Manager of North Asia and Pacific, Thomson Reuters, Don Durfee, and heads of several other news agencies, including Kyodo and Antara.