Turkey Istanbul, Nov. 25 / Trend special corr. E.Huseynov /
The Trend Agency has become a full member of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA). The decision was made at the OANA Fourteenth General Assembly in Istanbul today, Trend reported.
Trend Agency General Director Ilgar Huseynov and International Cooperation Director Elchin Huseynov are participating in the event.
Trend has participated as an OANA observer for three years. The news agency's application was approved by the organization's executive committee at a meeting in Tehran in November 2009.
The OANA was formed at a conference of Asian national news agencies in Thailand upon the initiative of the U.N. and UNESCO on Dec. 22, 1961.
According to the organization's charter, the OANA aims to expand and facilitate the exchange of information between Asian and Pacific countries, and to participate in eliminating the imbalance in the information exchange between developed and developing countries.
Today, the OANA brings together 40 news agencies from 33 countries.
The OANA's supreme body is the general assembly, which convenes every three years.
The OANA's impact zone covers more than 60 percent of the world's population. Its members include the Russian Itar-Tass, Turkish Anadolu, Japanese Kyodo News, Chinese Xinhua, Iranian IRNA, Saudi Arabian SPA, South Korean Yonhap, Pakistani PPI and APP, Kazakh Kazinform, Australian AAP, Indonesian ANTARA, Kuwaiti KUNA and Indian PTI, among others.