Baku, January 8, AZERTAC
Newly appointed Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan Dan Stav has expressed the Embassy`s readiness to contribute to the development of AZERTAC`s relations with Israeli media as he met with the agency`s Director General Aslan Aslanov.
Ambassador Stav said the strengthening of relations between AZERTAC and Israeli media agencies would pave the way for the development Israeli-Azerbaijani ties.
AZERTAC Director General Aslanov spoke of the centuries-old ties between the two countries and nations, and underlined the role of news agencies “in taking these relations forward”.
He briefed the Ambassador on Azerbaijan`s achievements in the years of independence, and the agency`s role in ensuring the government`s information policy.
Mr. Aslanov hailed the relations between Azerbaijan and Israel as close, saying the two countries were successfully cooperating in international organizations and enjoyed good ties in the fields of politics, economy and high technologies.
“AZERTAC is also ready to boost cooperation with the Israeli Embassy to Azerbaijan,” said Mr. Aslanov.
The Director General said AZERTAC and the Embassy could cooperate in a variety of areas. “We can arrange press tours for Israeli media representatives to Azerbaijan and employees of AZERTAC to Israel, and jointly publish photo albums, books.”
Ambassador Stav praised development processes in Azerbaijan, stressing the importance of oil and gas projects initiated by the country. He said he was impressed by what Azerbaijan had achieved despite being situated in a volatile region. The Israeli Ambassador praised tolerance in Azerbaijan. “Azerbaijan is a role model to other countries in terms of its tolerance and, by the way, not just for Jews, but for any other religious or ethnic groups. Sometimes tolerance was taught as ‘I tolerate you, but I hate you’. But the meaning in Azerbaijan is ‘I tolerate you because I love you.”
On the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Israeli Ambassador said his country supported Azerbaijan`s territorial integrity and the efforts of international organizations to solve the problem. Mr. Stav added that Israel backs the settlement of the dispute in compliance with the international law.
