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APA Director General holds meetings in the Council of Europe

29 May 2009 07:55 (UTC +04:00)

Strasbourg. Fuad Gulubeyli â€“APA. Director General of Azeri-Press Agency (APA) Vusale Mahirgizi held meetings in the Council of Europe, APA European bureau reports.

On Thursday, Mahirgizi met with press secretary of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Stefano Montanari and discussed the issues of cooperation between Azerbaijani media and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. Montanari said they were interested in the cooperation with the Azerbaijani media organizations and freedom of press was one of the main issues focused by Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg. Mahirgizi thanked for the meeting and regular cooperation and brought her proposals on the perspective development of the relations of the media organizations of Azerbaijan and other South Caucasian countries with the Council of Europe.

Then APA Director General met with Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the Council of Europe Ambassador Arif Mammadov. The ambassador said APA European bureau had an importance not only for the agency, but for the country as well. Mammadov said they had useful cooperation with the APA European bureau and spoke about the mediaâ€™s contribution to the process of Azerbaijani integration into Europe.

APA Director General met with the head of the Council of Europe Public relations Department Jeremy Moakes and reached an agreement to obtain photo and video materials from the Council of Europe and to use free video service of the Council. According to the agreement, APA will spread video reports obtained from the Council of Europe in several languages.

Then Vusale Mahirgizi met with press secretary of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Micaela Catalano and discussed the ways of extension of cooperation between APA and PACE. Catalano emphasized that Azerbaijan was the first country in CIS, which opened the bureau of its news agency (APA) in the Council of Europe and it showed the special importance the Council of Europe gave to the South Caucasus.

Mahirgizi met with press secretary of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities Dimitri Marchenkov. They emphasized that media needs to cover educative and informative reports about the local self-administration systems and discussed the prospects of cooperation in this field.

Then APA Director General met with press secretary of the Council of Europe Directorate of Communication Can Fisek and discussed the problems and prospects of Internet and print media in Azerbaijan.

Mahirgizi met with press secretary of the Council of Europe Venice Commission Tatiana Mishelova. The press secretary emphasized the importance of APA European bureau for the regular cooperation. Ms. Mishelova said the Venice Commission was always open to media and they were interested in the regular reports.

APA Director General said in all meetings she held in the Council of Europe that the agency was interested in closer cooperation with the Council of Europe.

Mahirgizi is on a visit to Strasbourg on the invitation of the Council of Europe Directorate of Communication.

APA Director General will meet with Deputy Head of the CE Directorate of Communication Alun Drake, spokesperson for the European Court of Human Rights Stefano Piedimonte and head of the Azerbaijani House in Strasbourg Mustafa Alinca on Friday.

APA is the first and the only agency from the CIS that has office in the Council of Europe. 13 world-famous media organizations such as Turkey-based NTV channel, Reuters, Agence France-Presse have offices in the Council of Europe, APA is one of them.