The Azerbaijan State News Agency

International activity

AZERTAC, launched on 1 March 1920, is Azerbaijan’s first and one of the oldest news agencies in the world. Over the last 20 years, the agency has expanded its international activities, establishing a broad network of foreign correspondents and creating partnerships with the world's leading media organizations. According to these indicators, AZERTAC holds the leading position in Azerbaijan and is one of the most influential news agencies of Eurasia, circulating news across five continents. To date, AZERTAC has established official partnerships with 49 information agencies, is a member of 11 international information platforms and is represented on the governing bodies of several of them. The agency operates 22 correspondent stations in 21 countries.

AZERTAC’s global partners

AZERTAC has official partnership relations with 49 news agencies and media organizations around the world.

Adnkronos

(Italy)

AGİ

(Italy)

AGERPRESS

(Romania)

ANSA

(Italy)

Antara

(Indonesia)

ATA

(Albania)

Belta

(Belarus)

BNA

(Bahrain)

Bernama

(Malaysia)

BTA

(Bulgaria)

BuaNews

(Republic of South Africa)

EFE

(Spain)

ELTA

(Lithuania)

FENA

(Bosnia and Herzegovina)

İP ALTA

(Paraguay)

İRNA

(Iran)

JiJi Press

(Japan)

Kabar

(Kyrgyzstan)

Kazinform

(Kazakhstan)

KUNA

(Kuwait)

Kyodo

(Japan)

LETA

(Latvia)

MENA

(Egypt)

Moldpress

(Moldova)

MONTSAME

(Mongolia)

MTİ

(Hungary)

PAP

(Poland)

PETRA

(Jordan)

PNA

(Filippin)

QNA

(Qatar)

Sinxua

(China)

SPA

(Saudi Arabia)

STA

(Slovenia)

Tanjug

(Serbia)

TASS

(Russia)

Tazpit

(Israel)

TDH

(Turkmenistan)

TELAM

(Argentina)

TQF

(Turkiye)

Ukrinform

(Ukraine)

VNA

(Vietnam)

WAFA

(Palestine)

WAM

(United Arab Emirates)

Xovar

(Tajikistan)

Yonhap

(Republic of Korea)

Activity within international organizations

AZERTAC is a member of 11 international and regional organizations and information platforms.

News Agencies World Congress - NAWC

The First News Agencies World Congress was founded at the initiative of the Russian TASS agency in Moscow in 2004. On 24-25 September 2004, the First Congress of World News Agencies was held in connection with the 100th anniversary of TASS. So far, six congresses have been held in Russia, Spain, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan and Bulgaria.
The Fourth Congress held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, on 17-21 November 2013 made a secret-ballot decision to elect AZERTAC chair and hold the Fifth Congress of influential news agencies in Baku. The Congress was held in Baku on 16-17 November 2016 and AZERTAC chaired the organization in 2016-2019. During the congress, 200 representatives of five continents, 80 countries and more than 130 leading news agencies of the world discussed the current problems of the media. President Ilham Aliyev attended the Congress, made a speech and received a group of participants.

News Agencies World Council - NACO

The main body of the World Congress is the News Agencies World Council. AZERTAC has been a member of the Council since 2013.
The Council is responsible for developing the program and format of the Congress together with the host party. During AZERTAC's chairmanship of the Congress, changes were made to the institution’s Regulations and the positions of president and vice-president of the Council were introduced. The Council holds at least two meetings a year between congresses. AZERTAC is one of the 15 agencies with the right to vote in the Council.
Council members include Associated Press, Reuters, PA Media Group (UK), AZERTAC, EFE (Spain), TASS (Russia), SPA (Saudi Arabia), TELAM (Argentina), BTA (Bulgaria), MAP (Morocco), Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA), European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA), Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA), Union of Latin American News Agencies (ULAN) and CIS National News Agencies Association (ANIA).

European Alliance of News Agencies - EANA

The European Alliance of News Agencies, EANA, was founded at a Strasbourg conference dedicated to new media technologies on 21 August 1956. The founders of EANA were news agencies of Western European countries, Anadolu of Turkiye and Tanjug agency of Yugoslavia. EANA´s predecessor Agences Alliées was founded in 1924 and was active until the World War II when the activities were discontinued. Currently, the organization has more than 30 members.
AZERTAC was elected a member of EANA on 18 April 2008. AZERTAC is heavily involved in the activities of this organization. It was on the initiative of AZERTAC that the leaders of EANA and OANA came together for the first time at the 30th meeting of the OANA Executive Committee held in Baku on 1-4 September 2008.
Here is EANA’s web site: https://newsalliance.org

Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies - OANA

The Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) was established on the initiative of UNESCO in 1961 with the aim of facilitating the exchange of information between the news agencies of the region. OANA member-agencies provide two-thirds of all information flow in the world.
At present, more than 40 news agencies from 35 countries are members of OANA.
AZERTAC was elected a member of OANA in September 2004. AZERTAC news, video and photo actuality are posted on OANA's news platform and used by other member-agencies of the organization. On 12 December 2007, at a meeting of OANA in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, AZERTAC was elected a Bureau member of the Executive Committee, the governing body of the institution. AZERTAC was elected Bureau member three times in a row.
The 15th General Assembly held in Moscow in September 2013 elected AZERTAC vice-president of the organization. A secret-ballot decision was made that AZERTAC would chair the organization in 2016-2019 and host the next General Assembly in Azerbaijan in 2016. AZERTAC chaired the organization in 2016-2019. On 8 November 2019, the country handed over presidency to Yonhap Agency of the Republic of Korea. On 7 November 2019, an OANA delegation led by the President of OANA Aslan Aslanov was received by President of Korea Moon Jae-in. AZERTAC is currently vice-president of the organization.
The meetings of the OANA Executive Committee chaired by AZERTAC were held in Lebanon in May 2017, in Iran in September 2018, in Vietnam in April 2019 and in Seoul in November 2019.
Here is the web site of OANA: http://oananews.org/

Union of OIC News Agencies - UNA

The decision to establish the Union of News Agencies of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, UNA, was made at the third meeting of the foreign ministers of the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation held in Jeddah in 1972. The organization is considered a media outlet of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and includes 57 member agencies.
UNA broadcasts news in three languages – Arabic, English and French. The organization is headquartered in Jeddah.
Since 2017, AZERTAC has been a member of the Council, the governing body of UNA.
Here is the web site of UNA: https://una-oic.org

Association of National News Agencies of the Commonwealth of Independent States - ANIA

ANIA was founded on the basis of the agreement signed on 23 September 2004. The organization was established to facilitate professional cooperation between the national news agencies of the CIS countries in order to implement the Agreement on the exchange of materials of the national news agencies of the CIS member countries adopted by the CIS Heads of Government Council on 18 September 2003. ANIA's activities are coordinated by the Council of Heads of State News Agencies of the CIS Countries.
AZERTAC is involved in the organization's joint projects and distributes its photos and news through the organization's platform.
Here is the web site of ANIA: http://ania-news.info

The Black Sea Association of National News Agencies - BSANNA

The Black Sea Association of National News Agencies, BSANNA, which is a member of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization, was established at the founding conference held in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, on 29-31 May 2006. It is a regional organization that unites the efforts of national information agencies of the Black Sea basin countries.
The purpose of BSANNA, represented by 14 national news agencies, is to exchange information freely and on an equal basis and to disseminate information in the countries of member agencies.
AZERTAC chaired this organization in 2011-2013. On 13-15 July 2011, the fifth meeting of the BSANNA General Assembly held in Baku established the governing body of the institution, the Bureau. The General Secretariat was established at the Sixth meeting of the General Assembly held in Sochi on 19 April 2013.

Council of Heads of State News Agencies of the CIS Countries

The agreement on the establishment of the Council of Heads of State News Agencies of the Commonwealth of Independent States entered into force on 3 November 1995. The council includes heads of eight national agencies of the CIS countries. The Council is subordinated to the Council of Heads of State of the CIS.
The 11th (2 March 2010), 14th (10 November 2011), 16th (25 February 2013) and 22nd (16 November 2016) meetings of the Council were organized by AZERTAC in Baku.

Belt and Road Economic Information Partnership

The platform was established at the initiative of China's Xinhua agency in Beijing on 27 June 2019. AZERTAC, one of the first media organizations to support this initiative of Xinhua, has the status of a founding member of the platform. Through this platform, AZERTAC promotes the economic development of Azerbaijan, a country located on international trade routes and transport corridors, large-scale energy projects, business and investment environment, as well as the Trans-Caspian international transport route, which includes the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, the shortest railway connection between Asia and Europe. The platform is also used to promote Azerbaijan’s logistical potential, tourism infrastructure, foreign trade and economic legislation of our country to a wide audience.
The platform includes media organizations and think tanks from around the world.
Here is the web site of BRInfo: https://breip.imsilkroad.com

PNN Information Exchange Network

AZERTAC is a member of the news exchange network established at the initiative of the Yonhap news agency of the Republic of Korea in 2017. The network includes 55 news agencies from all over the world. Agencies publish news, photos and videos distributed on their resources through the network. The network, initially established to provide information support for the Pyongyang Winter Olympic Games held in the Republic of Korea in 2018, currently continues to operate as an information exchange platform between agencies. The initial draft of the network was launched at the World Congress of News Agencies held in Baku in 2016.
Here is the web site of: https://pnn2018.com

Global network of correspondents

AZERTAC has 22 correspondents in 21 countries. In total, correspondent stations cover 65 countries.

News in foreign languages

AZERTAC circulates news about events taking place in the country and the world in seven foreign languages - Russian, English, German, French, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese. About 300 news items are published in foreign languages every day. At the same time, video information is prepared in four languages - Russian, English, German and French.