Dr Hamadoun Touré, Secretary-General ITU : “Azerbaijan has made tremendous progress in ICT development in the first decade of the 21st century”

Dear participants and guests,

I have pleasure in extending warm greetings to all participants attending the Bakutel International Exhibition and Conference 2012 on Telecommunications and Information Technologies, as well as the 47^th Session of the Board of the Communications Administrations Heads of the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications (RCC), the High Level Ministerial Meeting ‘Addressing the Challenges of a Hyperconnected World’, and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) which all take place this October in Baku.

The International Telecommunication Union is committed to connect all people around the globe to the benefits of ICTs and to harness their vast potential to fast-track progress towards meeting the 2015 Millennium Development Goals.

ITU’s work in radiofrequency spectrum allocation and the development of global ICT standards, and our wok in ICT development aims to ensure that no one is left out of the digital revolution – and in particular the transformational social and economic benefits which will come to the knowledge societies which are built on broadband. That is why ITU was instrumental in creating the Broadband Commission for Digital Development in conjunction with UNESCO.

Azerbaijan has made tremendous progress in ICT development in the first decade of the 21^st century, and the promising growth trend continues into the second decade. The ICT sector continues to show average annual growth rates of 25-30 per cent. Income in the sector increased by 13 per cent in 2011 and represented approximately US$ 1.7 billion last year. Two thirds of the population is now online, and more than 30 per cent of the population are broadband Internet users. Computer penetration stands at 20 per cent.

This is not surprising, given Azerbaijan’s extraordinary GDP growth, much of which has been driven by the ICT sector, and which is now the second fastest developing sector of Azerbaijan’s economy, after the energy sector.

At BakuTel 2012, as well as at the RCC event and the IGF, participants can expect to see strong evidence of the importance of the ICT sector in Azerbaijan, and many examples of the expanding application of e-solutions in such sectors of the national economy as health, education, transportation, government and culture.

With these considerations in mind, I wish you all – and the BakuTel 2012 event itself – every possible success.

Dr Hamadoun Touré,
Secretary-General, ITU