BEIRUT
Anadolu Agency Board Chairman and Director General Kemal Ozturk on Monday met with Lebanese Information Minister Walid Daouq in Beirut.
Ozturk briefed the Lebanese minister about Anadolu Agency's broadcast in Arabic and its project to become one of the top five news agencies in the world by 2020, when the agency will celebrate the centennial anniversary of its foundation.
Ozturk said Anadolu Agency planned to launch broadcast in 11 languages within four years, adding that agency already broadcasts in Arabic, English, Bosnian and Turkish.
Ozturk said Anadolu Agency considered broadcast in Arabic the most important leg of the project, adding that a big regional office had opened in Cairo and Beirut would be the operational center of the agency in the closer region.
Ozturk said Anadolu Agency had 40 offices in the world and it planned to bring that number up to 80.
Daouq, on his part, expressed readiness to extend any support to Anadolu Agency to strengthen relations, adding that ties between the two countries were strong.
Ozturk later met with head of Lebanon's National News Agency, Loura Suleiman, promoting Anadolu Agency's "centennial vision."
"We are setting up a system that would make broadcast in Arabic and make it heard in Turkey as well as in the world," Ozturk said.