Azerbaijan will host gatherings of influential international media organizations on November 16-18 – the 5th News Agencies World Congress, the 16th General Assembly of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) and the 22nd session of the Council of CIS Heads of News Agencies.

Co-organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and AZERTAC, these events will bring together heads and representatives of more than 100 news agencies, which shape the global information policy, international media experts, UN and UNESCO officials, and representatives of regional media organizations.

The joint opening ceremony of the News Agencies World Congress and the OANA General Assembly will take place at the Heydar Aliyev Center on November 16.

The slogan of the 5th News Agencies World Congress is “New Challenges for News Agencies”. The Congress will feature several sessions, including “The future of news consumption”, “News agencies – challenges and opportunities of new technologies and social media”, “News agency innovation”, “Training journalists for a multi-media future”, “Protecting the journalists’ mission: freedom, access, safety and conflict zones”. It will also feature discussion on problems facing journalism, which is now in experiencing rapid transformation, and forms of cooperation between news agencies and different social media platforms.

Speakers at the sessions will include presidents of the News Agencies World Congress, OANA, EANA, FANA, managers of Associated Press, Reuters, Xinhua, Anadolu Agency, TASS, Agence France-Press, Press Association, EFE, Yonhap, Kyodo, TT, SPA, BTA, AAP, IRNA, DPA, Notimex, ATPE and other leading news agencies, Los Angeles Times newspaper, Al Arabiya television channel, and experts from Tripod Advisors, News Corp, PwC, Axel Springer, Stibo Accelerator media companies.

The Congress will also see the presentation of a photo album featuring nearly 600 photographs by the participating agencies in “News”, “Festival” and “Sport” categories. The photo album was published through partnership between the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and Baku Media Center.

The Congress will also feature the signing of several agreements, election to executive bodies of the Congress, and the adoption of Declaration.

AZERTAC will take on a three-year presidency (2016-2019) of the Congress at the event.

The 16th General Assembly of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies will be held at JW Marriott Absheron Baku hotel on November 18, bringing together more than 80 heads and representatives of 40 news agencies. The event will see AZERTAC assume presidency of OANA for the next three years, during which the agency will be responsible for managing the website of the organization and other organizational issues.

The agenda of the 22nd session of the Council of CIS Heads of News Agencies encompasses a wide range of issues, including review of the organization`s activities in 2016, implementation of joint projects, and expansion of news exchange.

Initiated by the Russian TASS news agency, the 1st News Agencies World Congress was held in Moscow on September 24-25, 2004. The three other congresses took place in Spain, Argentina and Saudi Arabia. The main body of the Congress is the Council. At the 4th Congress, which was hosted by Riyadh in 2013, Associated Press, Reuters, Press Association, SPA, TASS, EFE, Kuna, AZERTAC and TELAM agencies as well as secretaries general of EANA, OANA and FANA were elected as members of the Council.

An initiative of UNESCO, the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies was founded in 1961 with the aim of expanding news exchange among regional news agencies. OANA`s members include 43 news agencies from 35 countries. At the 15th General Assembly held in Moscow in 2013, AZERTAC was elected – by secret ballot – as president of the organization for 2016-2019.