Azerbaijan's cultural city Shusha is hosting Global Media Forum themed “New Media in the Era of the 4th Industrial Revolution”. Having addressed the event, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also met the participants, including foreign guests attending the conference that is being held on 22-23 July.

This forum, held for the first time in the history of Azerbaijan within the framework of the Year of Heydar Aliyev and in connection with the 148th anniversary of the national press of Azerbaijan, brought together the world's leading media, heads of journalistic organizations, influential experts in the field of media, information and communication, well-known journalists.

Within the framework of the forum, the head of state touched upon topical issues at the global level in the field of media and information and communication.

In this regard, AZERNEWS correspondent interviewed one of the guests of this forum - Russian politician, political scientist Sergey Markov.

"The global media forum is Azerbaijan's contribution to the development of mankind. And today, the President of Azerbaijan proposed to consider this global media forum the first and make this event a regular one. This kind of global media forum is very important. Because it allows humanity to develop. Media, that is, means of communication with each other. And these means of communication should help people, not fall into hostility or fight, but understand each other and make joint projects through these media."

Speaking about the current situation of the media, the expert said that now the media is in a difficult, and at the same time optimistic situation. On the one hand, this media has got very cheap and very high-quality equipment: video cameras, microphones, phones in everyone's pocket. Such a normal phone, a television studio filming - today almost every person has it in his pocket.

"On the one way, there are huge resources of opportunities, on the other way, we see that media can easily reach all social networks. An ordinary person can become a hero for millions. But on the other hand, the media is increasingly turning from a tool of dialogue into a tool of hostility, a tool of lies. There is a huge amount of media abuse. This huge danger is how to take everything good from the future and throw away everything bad. This topic is actually dedicated to this global media forum, which is called "New Media in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution", the expert said.

It should be noted that the political scientist who participated in the event also addressed a question to President Ilham Aliyev. Regarding the expert's question, the head of state clarified Azerbaijan-Russia relations as follows.

“The signing of the Declaration on Allied Interaction had a solid foundation. As for the period we are going through after the signing, this period is completely new for the world, for our region, including Russia and ourselves. But despite this, despite such a serious change in the geopolitical situation, the development of relations between Russia and Azerbaijan since the signing of the Declaration has been quite successful. There have been many contacts at the highest level, there have been contacts at the level of heads of government, ministers of foreign affairs and other representatives of governments and state bodies. Therefore, I can say with full confidence that provisions of the Declaration are being fulfilled. I would like to say that those small rough edges that we see in the Russian media in relation to Azerbaijan and in the Azerbaijani media in relation to Russia have no influence on the policy of Azerbaijan and Russia."

Sharing President's impressions, the expert said that, like everyone else, he was also interested in how the president characterized the relationship between Azerbaijan and Russia.

"President Ilham Aliyev spoke very positively. This is very important, given that there were exchanges of notes and statements between the Foreign Ministries. Many began to say - 'is the relation getting lukewarm between Azerbaijan and Russia?' President Ilham Aliyev clearly said that there is a political will of the country's leadership. These relations between Azerbaijan and Russia are multifaceted. They go sprouting. Today the President expressed himself very gracefully in connection with the new processes. There are some difficulties, but nevertheless these multifaceted relations between Azerbaijan and Russia are recognized by both countries, they are in the interests of both countries in cooperation which are developing," Markov emphasized.

Further, the expert noted that the Moscow Declaration was signed at a dramatic moment.

"The document was signed at the time when the special military operation had began. Probably, there were many calls from different countries of the world to the President of Azerbaijan with a request not to go to Moscow. But the president went, showed his will, signed the declaration. This is not just a declaration, but a document making alliance and relationship stronger. According to the President, this declaration is a good part of the foundation for development between the two countries. We were very glad to hear this reaction, this assessment from Ilham Aliyev," the Russian political expert underlined.

Touching on the role of Azerbaijan in the Non-Aligned Movement, Sergey Markov considered commendable a number of contributions of Azerbaijan to the solution of global problems within the NAM. He highly appreciated the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev in this regard.

"Azerbaijan at the moment of crisis chaired that organization. Russia welcomes this organization very much. I am very glad that there are no countries that want stay on neutral side. We really appreciate the fact that these countries, under the leadership of Azerbaijan, take such a positive neutral position," the expert concluded.