A Memorandum of Cooperation has been signed between the Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the High Authority of Audiovisual Communications of the Kingdom of Morocco.

On December 17, 2024 Ismat Sattarov, the Chair of the Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan, met with the delegation headed by Ms. Latifa Akharbach, the President of the High Authority of Audiovisual Communication (HACA) of the Kingdom of Morocco.

Speaking at the meeting, Ismat Sattarov, Chair of the Audiovisual Council, stressed that his visit to Morocco in May this year had been very interesting and useful. He said that, among Arabic-speaking countries, Morocco is a very important one and there are special friendly relations between Azerbaijan and this country. This cooperation between audiovisual media regulators will contribute to the development of the Audiovisual Council's relations with other Arabic-speaking countries and, for HACA, will facilitate the development of relations with Turkic-speaking countries and the Caspian-Black Sea region. The Chair of the Audiovisual Council stressed the importance of joint efforts to improve media regulation and public understanding of this field and expressed his optimism for future cooperation.

In her speech, Latifa Akharbach, President of HACA, said that her second visit to Azerbaijan had once again evoked the same positive feelings. She stressed that the cooperation between two regulators is based on mutual trust and sincere friendship. Latifa Akharbach noted that this visit aims to achieve concrete results and that the exchange of experience is of great importance for the media environment facing the rapid development of digital technologies. She stated that both institutions face the same challenges in areas such as artificial intelligence and media literacy, and that there are opportunities to work together on common areas of activity. She expressed confidence that this collaboration will be mutually beneficial and thanked for the invitation and opportunity for discussion.

Then, Taleh Guliyev, the head of the Communications Sector of the Audiovisual Council, made a broad presentation on the audiovisual media sphere of Azerbaijan. In his speech, he quoted the words of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev, "the media is the living nerve that connects the state with society", and stated that censorship was abolished in Azerbaijan in 1998, making Azerbaijan the first country among the post-Soviet states to abolish censorship. During the presentation, information was given on the activities of the Audiovisual Council, legislative mechanisms, international cooperation and bilateral relations.

At the end of the meeting, a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Audiovisual Council and HACA was signed. The document was signed by Ismat Sattarov, Chair of the Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Ms. Latifa Akharbach, President of the High Authority of Audiovisual Communication of the Kingdom of Morocco.