TASS seals agreements with India’s two leading news agencies on news exchange

NEW DELHI, December 11. /TASS/. Russia’s news agency TASS signed an agreement on co-operation with two Indian leading news agencies on Thursday within the framework of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the country. The agreements are the first official documents concluded by the two countries’ mass media after the Soviet Union's break-up. TASS signed the first agreement with the IANS /Indo-Asian News Service/ and the second, with the Press Trust of India /PTI/ on the sidelines of the summit along with other official documents sealed between Russia and India in the presence of Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. TASS Director General Sergey Mikhailov put his signature under the documents alongside IANS Chief Editor Tarun Basu and PTI Editor-in-Chief and CEO MK Razdan. The agreements envisage exchanges of news in English, reciprocal visits and training of specialists, coverage of events and projects, which are implemented in the format of bilateral interstate relationship, as well as of landmark events in the regions of Russia and India. Mikhailov noted a possibility of taking joint interviews and of implementing special media projects commemorating dates and milestones in bilateral relations between Russia and India. “India is a huge market, a rapidly developing country and Russia’s strategic partner,” he said. “We are interested in boosting partnership in the media sphere,” he said. “My Indian counterparts have confessed that news about Russia is highly demanded here.” In the future the news agencies plan to step up co-operation by exchanging photos and video content. The agreements are valid for 12 months and are automatically prolonged every 12 months unless any of the sides notifies the other side three months prior to the expiration date on the intention to review the document or to terminate it. Read relatad news on tass.ru