Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke Wednesday at the opening ceremony of the fifth News Agencies World Congress (NAWC), which gathered representatives from some 100 news agencies around the world including Italy's ANSA in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku under the slogan 'New Challenges for News Agencies'.
Other Western participants include the Associated Press (AP) from the United States, Agence France Presse, Spain's EFE news agency, and Reuters (UK).
"It is a great honor for us to host such an important event, one with global reach," Aliyev said.
"I am sure our guests will not only debate the issues on the agenda but will also want to find out about the development process in Azerbaijan".
Simultaneously with the NAWC, Azerbaijan is also hosting the 16th General Assembly of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) and the 22nd session of the council of executives of news agencies from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Other participants include representatives from the United Nations and UNESCO, news agencies such as China's Xinhua, Russia's TASS, and Japan's Kyodo News, the Los Angeles Times paper, TV news broadcaster Al Arabiya, Rubert Murdoch's News Corp, German digital publisher Axel Springer, and experts from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Tripod Advisors.
Speakers will include the presidents of NAZC and OANA as well as managers from several news agencies, including the AP and Reuters.
"In the course of these international conferences, our agency confirms itself as being on the frontier of news development, measures itself with other great international outfits, and reaffirms its leadership in Italy thanks to advanced editorial products and innovative technology," said ANSA CEO Giuseppe Cerbone. The forum will take on various issues including the future of news consumption, challenges and opportunities of new technologies, innovation, and the safety of journalists in conflict zones. It also addresses problems facing the rapidly transforming field of journalism and forms of cooperation "between news agencies and different social media platforms".
Launched by official Russian news agency TASS in Moscow in 2004, the NAWC has also been held in Spain, Argentina, and Saudi Arabia.
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