Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 11 / Trend M.Aliyev/
The State Support for Media Development Fund of Azerbaijan will provide funding to maintain the media actions in 2010 at last year's level, Vugar Safarli, the Chairman of the Fund, said at a press conference on results of work in 2009.
In 2010 the government allocated 2 million manat, including 700,000 to be directed at financing the public journals. "Taking into account this year will saw the 135th anniversary of the Azerbaijani press, we hope that the fund's budget will be increased while considering the 2010 public budget in May 2010," Safarli said.
In 2009, the Fund allocated 1,100,000 manats for projects to improve the actions and to support the development of the media. Safarli said 200,000 manats of 1,304,000 manats allocated out of the public budget amounted to other expenses of the Fund.
Concerning requirements set for candidates for participating in contests Safarli said after the changes to the rules of contests, printed publications with an issue of 1,500, of which at least 500 are sold, may participate in the contest. "Our goal is to support the media, which can impact public opinion, and with this aim we intend to toughen the requirements in the future," Safarli said.
Safarli noted implementation of last year's projects left much to be desired. "70-80 percent of projects were unable to submit an accounting report at the proper level," Safarli underscored, warning not to delay the accounting records of projects, desiring to participate in the competitions in the future.
Aflatun Amashov, a member of the Fund's Supervisory Board, said currently support is rendered only to media outlets operating in Baku, whilst in the future, the Fund intends to support regional media outlets, too. "Our goal is to support the economic situation of the media throughout Azerbaijan," Amashov said.
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