BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

07/11/2006

IRNA, BeITa sign agreement on exchange of information

An agreement on exchange of information was signed here Tuesday in the presence of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Belarus counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, by the Managing Director of the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) Jalal Fayyazi and his counterpart from Belarus News Agency (BeITa), Dmitri Zuk.

According to the 12-article document, IRNA and BeITa agreed on rendering services on exchange of national and international information, including news coverage, processing and editing as well as dissemination of information.

Meanwhile, the two sides reached agreement on exchange of photos and films.

Based on one of the articles of the inked document, both sides agreed to do their best to encourage and facilitate exchange of news, technical and professional training, establishment of representative offices in each other's countries and signing new agreements.

Speaking to President Lukashenko after signing the document, the IRNA chief hoped that given the inked agreement, both nations will gain access to the news released by authorized and official sources of the two countries rather than depending on unauthorized Western media.

Besides, Fayyazi declared IRNA readiness to expand its cooperation with the Belarus news agency in all domains.

For his part, Lukashenko expressed satisfaction with cooperation between the two news agencies on exchange (dissemination and transfer) of news between the two countries, adding that the US and its media attempt to present an unreal image of the Iranian president to the world.

The Belarus president underlined that despite the attempts of US and its media, from point of view of the world public opinion, President Ahmadinejad's popularity is increasing daily, adding, "You can compare my popularity in Belarus to his in Iran."

In spite of the US clear and transparent opposition, Lukashenko was re-elected in the recent presidential election by earning 79 percent of the public votes.

Source:

http://www.irna.com/en/news/view/line-16/0611075554171752.htm