Azerbaijan and US to exchange experience in information technologies sphere

The Azerbaijan-US Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation has completed its work in Washington. This information was provided to ‘ICTnews’ by the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan to USA. According to the information, the meeting that was co-chaired by Finance Minister Samir Sharifov from the Azerbaijani side and Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, Robert D. Hormats from the U.S. side discussed the current situation of Azerbaijan – US relations in various spheres and prospects for future cooperation.

Robert Hormats said that the USA is interested in developing mutual relations with Azerbaijan. ‘The activities conducted by the commission play an important role in developing mutually beneficial cooperation between our countries. Over the last few years Azerbaijan has made huge progress in all spheres of economy.

All these achievements were made through the leadership of Ilham Aliyev, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The USA wants to deepen friendly ties with Azerbaijan. The USA hails the development of modern economy which serves interests of citizens of the country. The cooperation is developing not only in the sphere of energy but also in the non-oil sector.

At the same time, Azerbaijan has a very favorable geographical location, and can serve as international transportation corridor, which increases significance of this country at the international level. American businessmen are interested in investing in many fields in Azerbaijan, and a national strategy must be developed for this,’ Robert D. Hormats said.

Samir Sharifov, in his turn, said that the sides agreed to speed up cooperation in the spheres of transportation, aviation, infrastructure, information and communication technologies, exploration, production and transportation of energy recourses, trade, investment and financing, including development and implementation of the state investment strategy, cash payments, modernization of the equity market, pension reforms, financial management, fight against corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing through accelerating the process of consideration of documents and projects.

At the meeting representatives of relevant structures from the both sides made presentations on reforms being implemented in various spheres of economy, including the ‘Silk Way’ concept, Strategic Look at 2020, Opportunities for cooperation and CAREC’s work plan, Trade and investment environment, tourism, information technologies, transport, aviation, infrastructure, assistance programs and etc. The both sides expressed interest in strengthening protection of author's rights and developing bilateral cooperation in the ICT sphere as well as sharing experience in this sphere.