Ramin Guluzade attends 2nd Ministerial Meeting on ICT of Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States

The 2nd Ministerial Meeting on ICT of the member states of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States (Turkic Council) was held in Istanbul, the capital of Turkey on November 9, 2017.

The event was attended by ministers and deputy ministers in charge of ICT of member states of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey.

Azerbaijan at the event was represented by a delegation headed by Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies Ramin Guluzade.

Speaking at the event, Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications of the Republic of Turkey Ahmet Arslan highly appreciated the work of the working group on information and communication technologies operating within the framework of the Cooperation Council of the Turkic-speaking States, noted the wide opportunities for the development of cooperation in the areas of cyber security, e-government and fiber-optic network development among member states. He also noted that it is important to cooperate in the field of research and development. Stressing the importance of the Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM) for regional countries, the minister underlined the importance of increasing the efforts to implement the project soon.

Speaking at the Ministerial Meeting, where discussions held on electronic government, cyber security and fiber-optic network development, Ramin Guluzade highlighted the activities of the working group on information and communication technologies within the Turkish Council in terms of expanding cooperation in the field of ICT and effectively responding to existing challenges.

"Constructive discussions were held on a number of issues at the First Ministerial Meeting in Azerbaijan last year and it was decided to create four sub-groups within the working group. In my opinion, the activities of these sub-groups are of particular importance in terms of expanding cooperation in the field of ICT and effectively responding to existing challenges," said Ramin Guluzade.

Stressing that the joint efforts of the Cooperation Council of the Turkic-speaking countries towards the implementation of TASIM project initiated by Azerbaijan, are commendable, the Minister said that this project envisages the creation of a new fiber-optic highway between the two continents is of strategic importance for the region and will play an important role in the elimination of the digital divide in landlocked countries.

"I would like to take this opportunity to bring to your attention that the next annual meeting of high-level officials on the TASIM project is scheduled for December 5 this year in Baku within the framework of the international exhibition and conference BakuTel," the minister said.

Speaking on the work done in the direction of e-government building in Azerbaijan in recent years, Ramin Guluzade stressed the importance of conducting joint work in the field of mutual recognition of electronic signature certificates with the aim of increasing the trade turnover between the member countries of the Turkic Council. As a first step in this direction, the minister proposed signing of a multilateral agreement between the countries of the Turkic Council.

Following the meeting, a bilateral meeting was held between Ramin Guluzade and Ahmed Arslan. During the meeting they discussed the issues of mutual importance in the field of transport and information and communication technologies.

Recall that it was decided to create a working group on information and communication technologies at the last meeting of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States held at the highest level in Astana on September 10-11, 2015. The first ministerial meeting on ICT was held in November last year in Baku.