MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/. A roundtable discussion between Russian and Azerbaijani reporters took place at the TASS office on Monday.
The participants in the discussion, which was entitled "Russia - Azerbaijan: Pressing Issues of Media Cooperation," talked about current cooperation, the prospect for its development and shared experiences between Russian and Azerbaijani news media.
Opening the roundtable, TASS Director General Sergey Mikhailov said the idea of holding a discussion to exchange opinions between news professionals of the two countries was born when Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited TASS in February 2022.
"Ilham Geydarovich expressed the opinion that the event should be held at TASS because he has warm feelings toward TASS, for which we are very grateful to him," Mikhailov said, referring to the Azerbaijani president by his first and middle names.
He said TASS and the Azerbaijani media have excellent relations. Mikhailov reminded the audience that the tradition of exchanging delegations was interrupted only once, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are no obstacles now. His first deputy, Mikhail Gusman, noted that there are no formal rules for the roundtable discussion, and journalists should have an open and free conversation, exchanging opinions on professional interests and opportunities for cooperation in a variety of settings.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who arrived at TASS to talk to the news media professionals, said such engagement between Russia and Azerbaijan was of special importance.
"In general, dialogue between news media is extremely important and useful. Cooperation between news media is a vital component of the overall system of bilateral relations. We hope that this will continue and expand. News media must ask questions that are on their agenda and receive answers to those questions," he said.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova took part in a discussion with the senior staff of Azerbaijani news media. They spoke about Russia’s vision for stabilizing the situation in the South Caucasus, the position of the CSTO in the region, as well as the role of journalism in shaping an unbiased narrative.
Russian news media in Azerbaijan
Ilgar Guseynov, the director general of the Trend News Agency, used the roundtable discussion as an opportunity to note the development of cooperation with TASS. Vugar Aliyev, the board chairman of Azerbaijan’s State News Agency Azertag, described the cooperation with TASS as exemplary. He said that Russian-language media in Azerbaijan are legitimate members of the media market, with a wide audience of readers and viewers.
"The presence of a large stratum of Russian-language press in Azerbaijan is a distinctive feature of the media space in Azerbaijan and other South Caucasus countries," Aliyev said.
He said that’s helped by the support and attention to the Russian language from the Azerbaijani government, so not only the older generation, but also young people speak Russian.
Many members of Azerbaijani news media mentioned in their speeches how popular the Russian language is in the country, where Russian lessons are offered in schools and universities. According to them, school classes that teach Russian are jam-packed.
In memory of Heydar Aliyev
Polad Bulbuloglu, the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia, expressed his gratitude for the wide coverage of the 100th birthday of former President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, and noted that all of Russia’s leading media outlets issued reports to mark the date. He added that the memory of the late Heydar Aliyev continued to live on in the hearts of the peoples of the two countries.
Mikhailov said that Heydar Aliyev was a great friend of the TASS news agency, choosing its office as a venue for his events and news conferences. According to Mikhailov, this friendship, which TASS highly appreciates, was inherited by Ilham Aliyev.
Participants of the roundtable took a tour of a photo exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev's birth, which is located near the TASS office building. It was opened on May 15 and includes pictures by the agency’s photographers that cover a variety of Aliyev's activities as the Soviet Union’s first deputy prime minister and then the President of Azerbaijan.