President receives heads of leading news agencies in Black Sea Region and CIS

President Serzh Sargsyan today received the heads of leading news agencies in the Black Sea region and the CIS who have arrived in Armenia to discuss the prospects of promoting media cooperation in Armenia and issues pertaining to deepening collaboration. The representatives of the largest agencies in the region today are holding their 7th regular session of the General Assembly of the Black Sea Association of National News Agencies and the 19th session of the Council of Heads of CIS State News Agencies.

The President welcomed the participants of the meeting, as well as the decision to hold their regular sessions in Yerevan. Serzh Sargsyan said that such meetings are important in terms of promoting media cooperation. In his welcome speech, the Armenian President expressed the hope that the high-level partner and friendly relationships between the Armenpress state agency and leading news agencies in the Black Sea region and the CIS countries will be further strengthened and enhanced. Underscoring the rapid global development of IT which increases the volume of information and its availability, the President considered it a challenge on one hand and a great opportunity on the other hand. In that context, Serzh Sargsyan also talked about press freedom, noting that Armenia believes media freedom and availability of information are the pillars of democracy and civil society, and this principle provides media freedom the opportunity to fully express itself. In the President’s words, Armenia has made certain positive changes in that area which has also been confirmed by prestigious international organizations.

Serzh Sargsyan also answered various questions of the heads of leading news agencies related to recent developments in the region, Armenia’s economy, integration processes, including the process of joining the Eurasian Economic Union, the prospects of promoting cooperation between Armenia and the European Union, Armenia’s bilateral relations with separate countries and other issues.

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Additional information

The Black Sea Association of National News Agencies (BSANNA) is a non-commercial organization which directs the efforts of the Black Sea countries’ national news agencies towards making the most of their media resources, free and equal media exchange of vital issues pertaining to their countries’ political, economic, scientific and cultural life and dissemination of information in the territory of BSEC countries.

This international organization is made up of the ATA (Albania), the Armenpress (Armenia), AzerTAj (Azerbaijan), the BTA (Bulgaria), GHN (Georgia), the Moldpress (Moldova), the TASS (Russia), the AGERPRES (Romania), the TANJUG (Serbia), the ANA (Greece), the Anadolu (Turkey), the Ukrinform (Ukraine), the HINA (Croatia) and the MIA ((the former Yugoslav Republic) Macedonia).

The CIS Information Council was set up in 1996, in accordance with the Agreement on the Establishment of the CIS Council of Heads of State News Agencies signed by CIS heads of state on November 3, 1995. The council, whose maiden session took place in 1996, is called to raise the potential of the mass media in CIS member countries, increase the level of effectiveness of exchange of information, disseminate objective information about CIS member states and to provide media assistance for cooperation projects. The council is made up of the heads of Armenian, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Kazakhstani, Kyrgyz, Moldavian, Russian and Tajikistani state news agencies.