Baku, December 12, AZERTAC

The World Media Summit has provided extensive opportunities for media representatives to exchange their experience, learn from partners, share their own views, explore ways of resolving problems and discuss the future, Vugar Aliyev, Chairman of the Board of AZERTAC, the Azerbaijan State News Agency, has told Xinhua News Agency of the People’s Republic of China.

Vugar Aliyev noted that this was his first participation in the World Media Summit and that he viewed this platform as an opportunity for establishing new contacts and partners.

The Chairman of the Board of AZERTAC said that cooperation among media outlets was the key to a number of information problems threatening society, noting that major news agencies acting as locomotives of the news flow should be in permanent contact in the field of information. “Information exchange is the key component of partnership, and a well-functioning mechanism in this direction will enable the solution of many pressing problems such as fakes, disinformation and manipulation,” Vugar Aliyev underlined.

Vugar Aliyev noted that progress in the media industry was driven by technology and that journalists of the modern era were not just writers but also professionals possessing the subtleties of cutting-edge technologies.

“5G, artificial intelligence, metauniverse - these are all new opportunities for creating content and communicating more complex types of content to consumers. Such technologies have an impact on the format of production and delivery of information, and we should be next to our audience,” he said.

According to Vugar Aliyev, new technologies also create new challenges in the sphere of information and media workers should be prepared for such situations.

“Fake news is an example of that. The most advanced technologies are deployed to create and distribute it. Therefore, the media should be even more vigorous in terms of innovation, new approaches to improving their work, retraining their employees and establishing cooperation,” the head of AZERTAC said.

Vugar Aliyev reminded that this year marked the tenth anniversary of the “One Belt - One Road” initiative, which he said had significantly altered the economic, transport and logistical systems of many countries, and its participating countries saw benefit for their peoples in it.

“I am pleased that humanism is the main component of this initiative. Because everything in it is ultimately aimed at improving the well-being of ordinary people,” he said.

Vugar Aliyev believes that this initiative has concrete mechanisms for achieving its goals, and communication and cooperation are among the key factors for doing that.

China has become one of the leading platforms for media cooperation around the world. And this is how the idea of communication is being implemented, as it is an important component for establishing long-term partnership in all spheres in general,” he added.

The Chairman of the Board of AZERTAC attended the Fifth World Media Summit on “Boosting Global Confidence, Promoting Media Development” held in Guangzhou, China, on December 2-8. The event brought together more than 450 participants from 101 countries and regions, including representatives of 197 leading media, think tanks, government agencies, diplomatic missions in China, as well as UN agencies and international organizations.

The event was co-hosted by Xinhua news agency and provincial governments of Guangdong and Yunnan.