Baku, March 2, AZERTAC

Director General of Azerbaijan State Information Agency AZERTAC Aslan Aslanov has said the agency has its own place and enjoys influence on the international information arena.

“A legacy of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, AZERTAC released its first news 95 years ago,” he told journalists. “AZERTAC has gone through a difficult and, at the same time, a glorious path over these 95 years. Despite all the difficulties, the agency has always served the people of Azerbaijan. AZERTAC has played a profound role in building Azerbaijan`s information policy, and most importantly, wrote the annals of the country`s history over these 95 years.”

“What represents AZERTAC today and what led to its integration into the global information system are the results of efforts of our great leader Heydar Aliyev. National leader Heydar Aliyev’s ascendance to the political leadership in Azerbaijan became a turning point in the life of the republic, and opened a new chapter in the history of Azerbaijan’s mass media.” “Thanks to the great leader`s attention and care, AZERTAC was supplied with state-of-the-art technological equipment and took the leading position among the news agencies of the former Soviet Union due to the richness of content and technical base, as well as high creativity,” he said.

Mr Aslanov hailed President Ilham Aliyev`s role in ensuing Azerbaijan`s achievements. “Azerbaijan is now known in the system of international relations as a reliable strategic partner, a strong and significant player. Thanks to President Ilham Aliyev's independent and balanced foreign policy, our country - in the context of bilateral and multilateral relations - makes a fundamental contribution to the geopolitical, geo-economic and geo-strategic security of the region. All this contributes to the improvement of AZERTAC`s international image.” “AZERTAC is exchanging news with nearly 130 countries around the globe.”

“For 10 years we have been represented in the management of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies. At the OANA General Assembly in Moscow, the Director General of AZERTAC was elected a member of the Executive Committee and Vice President of this organization for the third time.”

“We are also members of a number of regional and international news alliances. Such an extensive and active representation in international media organizations and our work to spread the truth about Azerbaijan in a very broad geographical area enables us to build a platform for dialogue between Eastern and Western news agencies. The foundation of this platform was laid in September 2008, when AZERTAC hosted the 30th meeting of the OANA Executive Committee entitled "News for all in a globalizing world”. For the first time AZERTAC brought together outstanding decision-makers that shape the global information policy in Asia and Europe. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received the guests, which considerably increased the importance of the event.”

“AZERTAC is committed to enriching this tradition in the 2016-2019 when the agency will hold the chairmanship of OANA and the News Agencies World Congress (NAWC). AZERTAC will host the 16th General Assembly of OANA and the Fifth News Agencies World Congress in Baku in 2016,” Mr Aslanov added.