POLITICS
NACO meeting in Sofia focuses on final preparations for 6th News Agencies World Congress VIDEO
Sofia, March 7, AZERTAC
The Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA) has organized a meeting of the News Agencies World Council (NACO) in Sofia that discussed preparations for the 6th News Agencies World Congress (NAWC) to be held in the Bulgarian capital later this year.
Heads and representatives of news agencies, including Azerbaijan State News Agency AZERTAC which chairs the NAWC, UK’s Press Association, Russia’s TASS, Kuwait’s KUNA, Bulgaria’s BTA, as well as secretaries general of the Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA) and the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) attended the event.
President of the German DPA Agency, EANA President Peter Kropch and representative of the Associated Press Anna Johnson also joined the meeting via video conferencing.
Addressing the meeting, AZERTAC’s Chairman of the Board, President of the NAWC Aslan Aslanov made several proposals on improving the work of the organization, expanding the activities of the Executive Board, increasing functionality of the Congress` website, amending the Charter, and ensuring the organization`s registration by the UN. He noted that the NAWC should step up efforts to strengthen relations among the member agencies.
AZERTAC’s Chairman of the Board Aslan Aslanov also touched upon the issues related to the organization of the 6th News Agencies World Congress, as well as the nomination of agencies wishing to host the 7th News Agencies World Congress in 2022. He said that the member agencies that want to bid to host the 7th Congress should present their bids at the Sofia Congress and only then should their nomination be determined by voting. Aslan Aslanov also emphasized the necessity of establishing a fund by collecting membership fees from the member agencies in order to help those member agencies in need of serious support.
Aslan Aslanov noted that the 5th News Agencies World Congress, which was co-organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and AZERTAC in Baku, became a platform for sharing good practices. He also recommended that countries willing to host such events in the future should take advantage of this experience. The Council members welcomed and highly appreciated these proposals.
Chairman of the Council Clive Marshall, BTA Director General Maksim Minchev, TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman, FANA Secretary General Farid Ayar and others shared their views on the 6th News Agencies World Congress, and made proposals on the issues to be discussed during the session and panels of the 6th Congress.
The 5th News Agencies World Congress was held in Baku on November 16-17, 2016. AZERTAC is currently chairing the News Agencies World Congress and will hand over the presidency to the Bulgarian BTA agency in 2019.
Vugar Aliyev
AZERTAC correspondent