The agreement was signed by General Director of Honaronline Mahdi Afzali and President of APA Holding Vusala Mahirgizi.
The document considers establishing cooperation between the two agencies. The agreement envisages the production and distribution of news, photography, film sharing in English, as well as the implementation of joint projects, including interviews, analyzes etc.
"I hope the signing of the agreement will enhance the cultural cooperation between the two countries," said President of APA Holding Vusala Mahirgizi after the signing ceremony in the Imam Khomeini Mosalla.
Honaronline General Director Afzali also said, “We have defined a mission statement called art diplomacy. As one of the leading agencies in Iran we will make every effort to do just that, which is mainly publishing culture and art news.”
With regard to the cooperation agreement, Afzali said, “Republic of Azerbaijan is a friendly neighbour. We share cultural and artistic commonalities and the people of Azerbaijan are familiar with Iranian art and culture to some extent. Still, we haven’t been able to fully reflect on our culture abroad. The same is true about the Iranian people. They also don’t know much about other cultures. We saw the need to devise some cultural protocols in order to broaden our relations with Azerbaijan in art and culture.”
According to Afzali, the agreement could serve as a tool to know more about the Iranian and Azerbaijani art and culture. It could also help the two sides to learn from each other in the field.
He further noted that Honaronline has close relations with the Iranian cultural and artistic community, adding that the agency publishes content about music, theatre, visual art, fashion, literature, cinema, television and architecture.
The head of Honaronline went on to explain that the agency has close cooperation with the Iranian Ministry of Culture, adding that it always publishes news and content about national and international festivals being held in the country. According to him, the close relation with the Culture Ministry helps Honaronline to forge closer relations with the Iranian art and culture community.
In conclusion, Afzali said the cooperation agreement between the Iranian and Azerbaijani agencies is welcome news, adding that the ultimate goal is to share and make better use of our works and experiences in the field.
The cooperation agreement between Honaronline and APA was signed in three languages of Persian, English and Azerbaijani.