ITU Secretary-General meets with Azerbaijani startups

The Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Houlin Zhao met with Azerbaijani startups in Baku within the International Telecommunications and Information Technologies Exhibition and Conference “BakuTel 2016” and the “ICT Week”.

At the meeting, which was held with the organizational support of the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies, Houlin Zhao spoke about the importance of development of startups in the ITU Policy and the work done in this area.

Noting the important role of the ICT sector in the future economic development, the Secretary-General said that from this point of view the provision of support for start-ups, innovations and new ideas in this area is a priority for ITU member countries, including Azerbaijan.

Saying that Azerbaijan has oil resources, Houlin Zhao stressed that the consistent and systematic measures implemented in the country with the aim of turning black gold into human capital for the sake of the future development of ICT deserve high praise.

Then, the Deputy Minister of Communications and High Technologies Elmir Velizadeh told the gathering about the state policy for the development of start-ups in Azerbaijan.

He said that favorable conditions were created in the country for enhancing startup activities and that the High Technologies Park and the State Fund for Development of Information Technologies under the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies play a special role in the creation of such conditions.

The Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the United Nations Office and Other International Organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Vaqif Sadiqov, also spoke at the meeting. He said that Azerbaijan can pride itself on the dynamic development of the ICT sphere.

Then, the Secretary-General of the ITU answered the startups’ questions.

At the end of the meeting, Houlin Zhao wished the startups success in their future activities and photographed for memory with them.