The prospects of electronic signature in e-commerce are expanding

The first international conference on "Digital Trade Hub of Azerbaijan: Development Perspectives" was held in Baku on the initiative the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communications of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The event started with an opening speech made by Executive Director of the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communications Vusal Gasimli.

He said that Digital Trade Hub of Azerbaijan is, in the first place, a good example of public-private partnership in e-commerce.

"Digital Trade Hub of Azerbaijan is of great importance in terms of the creation of a digital space on the Great Silk Road and a single electronic space in Europe," Vusal Gasimli said.

The discussions at the international conference were held in several panels.

Head of "Azexport.az" portal Zaur Gardashev, Director of the Data Processing Center (DPS) of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies (MTCHT) Elnar Asadov, Head of Registration Department of the Ministry of Taxes Muslum Shafiyev, President of Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) Rufat Mammadov, Chief Strategy Administrator of Pasha Bank Agshin Mirzazade participated in the third panel of the conference.

Director of the Data Processing Center Elnar Asadov made a presentation on the topic of "Implementation of electronic signature in e-commerce". He informed the gathering about the advantages of electronic signature and prospects for e-commerce. Elnar Asadov also presented the conference statistics on global e-commerce and talked about the impact of electronic signature, which acts as a tool for identification and registration of e-commerce transactions, on the process.

Speaking about the activities of the National Certification Services Center of MTCHT, which represents the hierarchical model of a Root Centre for the Public Key Infrastructure in our country, he noted that the Centre issues national certificates to centers included in the system, as well as all subordinate centers.

"The Root Center is responsible for the formation of a self-signed certificate; formation of the certificates of these centers on the basis of information on registration of the second-level centers (the center of government bodies, the e-government center, the certification services center of the Ministry of Taxes and the certification services center of the Central Bank) and verification of electronic signature; compilation and publication of the list of revoked certificates of the second level centers.

The National Certification Services Center cooperates with 12356 state agencies, government organizations and municipalities, 35020 civil and business entities. In the period between 2014 and 2017, 41714 electronic signature certificates were issued. Electronic signatures were used about 23 million times over the reporting period."

Speaking about the implementation   of electronic signature in e-commerce, Elnar Asadov noted the possibility of its application in internet banking, insurance services, virtual offices, e-orders and e-contracts.

"New generation identity cards, which will be issued to citizens from 2018 on, will hold electronic signature certificates. Potentially, more than 8 million 200 thousand citizens of the country will become electronic signature owners, which will certainly make them active participants in e-commerce."

In his speech, Asadov also touched upon the role of mutual recognition of electronic signatures on an international scale in the development of interstate electronic commerce.

It was noted that the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, as the central executive body, considers this direction a priority and continues negotiations with foreign countries in this respect. Initially, negotiations with Turkey, Iran, Qatar and Ukraine were held.

Currently, work is also under way to strengthen the development of electronic services and e-commerce in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The project is being implemented with the support of the European Union. Under the project, standards for e-government, e-IDAS (the system of formation and control of mutual e-signature activities and electronic services of the EU countries on the basis of common technological standards) and e-commerce are being developed.

Speakers noted that the conference organized by the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communications serves the development of electronic commerce in Azerbaijan. They highly appreciated the activities carried out by the center in this sphere.