Yonhap, AZERTAC agree to expand exchange

SEOUL, Nov. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and Azerbaijan's leading news agencies agreed Wednesday to expand their exchange to include articles promoting the image of their respective countries. Yonhap News Agency CEO Park No-hwang and AZERTAC Director-General Aslan Aslanov signed the agreement at the Yonhap headquarters in Seoul, a day after the 39th Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) Executive Board Meeting concluded its two-day run. The two organizations previously had an agreement to share English news articles, photos and videos, but the new arrangement would broaden free content to articles related to South Korea and Azerbaijan's national images, covering economy, culture, travel and arts. "I felt there was a lot to learn from Yonhap at this executive board meeting," Aslanov said, adding he hopes to expand the exchange to include journalists in the future. Park expressed gratitude for AZERTAC's presence at the 2010 OANA Summit Congress and this year's Executive Board Meeting and wished for AZERTAC's successful hosting of next year's board meeting and News Agencies World Congress. Earlier this week, a similar agreement was signed with Malaysia's BERNAMA news agency. On the sidelines of the board meeting, Park also met with representatives from Albania's ATA and Nigeria's NAN news agencies to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation. Yonhap currently has cooperation agreements with 83 news agencies in 80 countries. OANA was founded in 1961 to enhance ties and cooperation among news agencies across the region. Despite its name, news agencies from outside the Asia-Pacific may attend the board meeting as observers. sojungpark@yna.co.kr (END)