Russian Mir-24 TV Channel has broadcast a program dedicated to the 100th anniversary of founding of Azerbaijan`s first national state news agency AZERTAC, which is a major news and information agency of the country, and the only source of the official government news.

The program provided an insight into AZERTAC’s achievements, its historical past and high prestige of the agency in the global information space.

It also highlighted national leader Heydar Aliyev’s outstanding contributions to the development of AZERTAC news agency. With bureaus in 21 countries, AZERTAC is producing news in 8 languages, including in Azerbaijani, English, Russian, French, German, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese covering socio-political, economic, scientific, educational, cultural, healthcare, sport, environmental and other fields. The agency is also producing news items, including photos and videos on a daily basis.

The program also featured interviews with several AZERTAC employees who spoke about their jobs, as well as responsibilities within the news agency.

AZERTAC, which is one of the oldest news agencies in the East and the CIS region, founded by the Government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic on March 1, 1920, and it functioned under various names during the Soviet period. The agency initially acted as a telegraph agency and further as a branch of TASS agency. AZERTAC restored its historical name after Azerbaijan regained state independence in 1991, becoming an independent media outlet.