AZERTAC Chairman of Board, UNA Executive Council member Aslan Aslanov meets with Saudi media minister

Chairman of the Board of Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC), member of the Executive Council of the Union of OIC News Agencies (UNA) Aslan Aslanov has met with Media Minister of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Turki Bin Abdullah Al-Shabanah on the sidelines of the Council`s extraordinary meeting in Jeddah.

Turki Bin Abdullah Al-Shabanah emphasized that friendly and fraternal relations between the two countries were developing on a yearly basis. The Saudi minister expressed his views on the issues to be discussed at the extraordinary meetings of the Executive Council and General Assembly of the UNA, which brings together 57 news agencies from the Islamic world.

He affirmed Saudi Arabia’s great interest in Azerbaijan, noting his country attaches special importance to relations with Azerbaijan.

The sides also put emphasis on the need to find ways to improve the effectiveness of UNA and jointly address the challenges in the field of information. They expressed serious concern over the cases of Islamophobia and linking Islam with terrorism. The fight against fake news targeting Islam, a religion of peace and brotherhood, should be one of the main priorities for the national news agencies of the OIC member states, they said.

Noting close cooperation between the Islamic news agencies in bilateral and multilateral formats, Aslan Aslanov described the relations between AZERTAC and the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) as exemplary. “We will continue our efforts to strengthen these relations,” Aslan Aslanov said.

Minister Turki Bin Abdullah Al-Shabanah expressed his desire to visit Azerbaijan in the near future to see the country’s development.