Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

President Ilham Aliyev on Monday met with participants of a meeting of the CIS body of media executives meeting in the Azerbaijani capital Baku on the same day.

The 16th meeting of the Council of Heads of State News Agencies of the Commonwealth of Independent States was joined by the heads of state news agencies of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Ukraine, as well as representatives of the CIS Executive Committee.

The president expressed his satisfaction that the meeting was being held in Baku and wished the meeting a success.

Speaking about the meeting format, President Aliyev said he considers it as very positive, as it reflects the realities of the present-day world when relations between friendly countries should develop in all areas, including the field of information policy and information security.

The president noted that today these issues are becoming much more important than ever before.

"It is no coincidence that the issues of information security are discussed today as actively as those of energy security, food security and security as a whole. Baku has recently hosted the world Internet Governance Forum, where issues of information security were at the top of the agenda," President Aliyev said.

Regarding Azerbaijan's development, the president said that in the years of independence all the conditions for free activity of the media were provided.

"There are hundreds of newspapers, dozens of news agencies and TV channels," he said. "Your Azerbaijani colleagues will probably speak in greater detail about what has been done in our country in recent years. I must say that in the first years of independence there was censorship in Azerbaijan, which was abolished by the decision of President Heydar Aliyev. It was after this, I would say, historic decision for the country that Azerbaijan embarked on drastic media reforms. Today Azerbaijan has all conditions for free activity of the media, there is a complete freedom of action, freedom of speech, freedom of expression and free internet, which I think is also one of the achievements. And besides the fact that there is a free Internet, I am also pleased that more than 70 percent of our population are Internet users."

Aliyev stressed that access to comprehensive information is an inalienable right of every citizen. In this case, perhaps to an even greater extent, the issue of media responsibility for the accuracy and objectivity of information will be quite relevant.

"Sometimes information is presented in a distorted or lop-sided manner due to some political priorities, ideologies or political motives. There are many examples of that. I think that the events that attract global attention and the way they are presented by certain media outlets are clear evidence of what I am talking about. Therefore, our citizens need not only truthful and accurate, but also objective information from different sources," the president noted.

Aliyev said the role of the media in the world and in society will only grow in the future. He said this is an objective process and, of course, great responsibility falls on those who bring this information to the public. In this regard, the active cooperation among news agencies of friendly countries is of particular importance - in terms of information background, in terms of objective coverage of realities and exchange of experience and information.

The president expressed his hope that the CIS council of news agencies is fully consistent with these objectives.

Aliyev also spoke of the Azerbaijani achievements and plans in the information and communication technologies sector, which is a priority area for the development of Azerbaijan.

The Council chairman and chairman of the board of Russian state news agency ITAR-TASS, Vitaliy Ignatenko, said that after the Council was set up in Moscow its first meeting was held in Baku.

"I want to indicate that, working together, we understand the responsibility we have. We understand that we need to create favorable conditions for the free flow of information about our countries around the world. We still have to work very hard in this direction," Ignatenko said.

Stressing that cooperation between news agencies was an indicator of relations between countries as a whole, the director-general of ITAR-TASS, Sergey Mikhaylov, said that he is confident that the meeting, which began with such a professional and in-depth speech, will be continued in the same manner.

The first deputy director-general of ITAR-TASS, Mikhail Gusman, also expressed confidence that the regular Baku meeting of the CIS council of news agencies -- which is also called CIS Information Council -- would be successful.

The Baku meeting featured discussions on the work of the website of the Association of National News Agencies and current projects of the CIS Information Council. The participants also exchanged views on organizational issues and set the date and venue for the next gathering of the Council.

Sergey Mikhaylov, who was elected new chairman of the CIS Information Council at the 16th meeting, expressed confidence that the experience gained as a result of joint activity will be used during the implementation of joint projects in the future.

Heads of state news agencies of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Ukraine delivered reports on the activities and priorities of news agencies.

Addressing the CIS Information Council meeting, Azerbaijan State Telegraph Agency's (AzerTAc) director general Aslan Aslanov said the role and importance of the Council increases at the time of the information society formation. He welcomed the activities of the Council, saying it plays a pivotal role in building a common information space between Europe and Asia, coordinating the work of national news agencies and strengthening the exchange of experience.

"All these issues help us increase our ability to compete in the world information market," Aslanov said. "Today we will discuss the activity and tasks of the CIS Information Council, internet journalism during the rapid development of information technologies, relations between social networks and traditional media, as well as cooperation among member agencies under Belarus' CIS presidency concept."

Touching upon the preparations for Victory Day, Aslanov said, "this is our common past, and we must always discuss ways of promoting awareness of the contribution of each former Soviet republic to ensuring the victory over fascism."

Vitaliy Ignatenko made a report on the work and further priorities of the Council whereby he noted that joint efforts in the information sphere was an important factor in strengthening mutual understanding and confidence among peoples, as well as deepening integration of CIS member states.

"I must particularly underline that this year marks the 90th anniversary of the national leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev," he noted.

The CIS Information Council was established in accordance with an agreement signed in Moscow in 1995.