By ANTARA News,
Baku : Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev has received participants of the 30th Executive Board Meeting of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies underway in Baku on the topic `News for Everybody in Globalizing World’.
The President said the holding of the event in Baku demonstrates how much importance Azerbaijan places on media. He said the visit of heads and representatives of the world`s leading news agencies is very significant in terms of delivering true information about Azerbaijan to the international community.
President Aliyev said great job has been done in the country to ensure free media.
The Azerbaijani leader noted the 30th OANA Executive Board Meeting is a good forum for exchanging views and experience.
Ahmad Mukhlis Yusuf, President of OANA, Chief Executive Officer of the Indonesian Antara News Agency, praised conditions created for the meeting`s participants.
He said they have eye-witnessed great development processes during their trip.
Wolfgang Vyslozil, President of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA), Chief Executive Officer of the Austrian APA agency, said the Azerbaijani state news agency`s becoming EANA member is very important in terms of making the world community aware of latest developments both in the country and the region.
During the talk, President Ilham Aliyev also noted Azerbaijan`s economic potential, saying the country has been the world`s fastest growing economy over the past few years.
The President said Azerbaijan has been successfully developing the non-oil sector, adding education and information technologies are a high priority for the country.
He also touched upon Azerbaijan`s Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which, the President said, left over million Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs.
The Azerbaijani leader said that notwithstanding all difficulties his country managed to become the regional leader.