High Technologies Week starts

Bakutel 2017, the 23rd Azerbaijan International Telecommunications and Information Technologies Exhibition and Conference will be held in Baku from the 5th to 8th of December. Thus, the exhibition will mark the beginning of High Technologies Week. On this occasion a press conference was held at Park Inn Hotel today. The event was attended by Deputy Minister Elmir Velizade, General Director of Caspian Event Organizers Edward Strachan, as well as representatives of Iteca Caspian.

It was noted at the event that today Bakutel is not just an exhibition of technical achievements which are growing rapidly in an extremely short period of time, but also a unique platform where both specialists and professionals from various ICT fields can meet. Moreover, the exhibition serves as a venue for ordinary users who can choose the most effective tools for data exchanging and processing.

Deputy Minister Elmir Velizade noted in his speech that traditional Bakutel exhibition, held for a long time, is held under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev. He said that the visit of the President and First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva to Bakutel exhibition has become a tradition.

As you know, Bakutel is held by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Exhibition is also supported by Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) and the National Confederation of the Entrepreneurs (Employers) Organizations of Azerbaijan Republic (AEC). The show is also respected globally and is supported by institutions, such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications (RCC). The organiser of the exhibition is Caspian Event Organisers (CEO).

Emphasizing that foreign countries are represented by national pavilions at the exhibition organized with the support of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Elmir Velizade noted that this year 10 countries - Russia, the UAE, Iran, Italy, France, Canada, Slovenia, Turkey, Georgia and Croatia will present at their stands innovative projects, as well as various products and ICT services.

Within the framework of the exhibition, the subordinate organizations and enterprises of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies will present in single national pavilion products and services, projects they implemented. These are projects in the field of telecommunications, post, high technologies, including nanotechnologies, e-government and electronic signature infrastructure, Data Center cloud services, successes achieved, and a number of startup projects supported by the ministry.

"Traditionally, these start-ups are paid much attention at the exhibition. Participation in the largest ICT event in the region along with industry leaders and government agencies provides a unique opportunity to present your project for public and private investment. In total, 20 developments will be presented, among them: Spinal - a device and a mobile application, helping to develop a correct posture; application Tabletka.az, allowing easy and at any time to find the right medicine in pharmacies of Azerbaijan; The first and only environmentally friendly courier company in Azerbaijan VeloKuryer; Wand - smart pen with temporary ink, which sends to the smartphone any sketch made by hand; development team İRS Cizgi, working on the production of national comics, toys, animation and video in a patriotic spirit," said the Deputy Minister.

Then speaking at the event, the CEO of Caspian Event Organisers Edward Strachan said that this year’s exhibition will bring together 192 companies from 20 countries of the world, including Azerbaijan, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, China, Finland, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Turkey and others. Among the participants are leading ICT companies, mobile operators, telecom operators, Internet providers, system integrators, distributors of well-known brands.

"40% of this year’s participants are regular exhibitors of Bakutel. The debutants of this year make up 30% of the total number of exhibitors. Bakutel 2017 will also welcome a number of new companies such as BMC Software, Hikvision, Qmatic, Nexus Telecom, etc.

The general sponsor of Bakutel is Azercell, which has been participating in the exhibition for more than 20 years. Within four days, the exposition of the exhibition will show visitors IT solutions of a new generation, solutions of the national broadband Internet, 4-5G mobile technologies, banking technologies, services in the field of fiber and cloud technologies."

Traditionally the exhibition is visited by foreign experts and heads of industry organisations. This year the honored guests of the Bakutel are: Houlin Zhao - Secretary General of International Telecommunication Union, Nurudin Mukhitdinov - General Director of Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications, Halil Ibrahim Akca - Secretary General of Economic Cooperation Organization, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi - Minister of Communication and Information Technology of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Nikolay Nikiforov - Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, Ahmet Arslan - Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication of the Republic of Turkey, Adil Kozhikhov - Chairman of the Telecommunications Committee of the Ministry of Information and Communication of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Anna Riabova - Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus, Mohammad Hadi Hedayati - Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Hamad Al Mansoori - General Director of the General Authority for Regulating the Telecommunications Sector (TRA), Vadim Belov - General Director of the Intersputnik and others.

Over the four days, the exhibition will feature a rich and varied program of business events; there is a plan to hold various conferences and meetings. The 2nd meeting of the Ministers of Information and Communication Technologies of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), High Level Meeting of Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM), Seminar on "E-Government, E-Participation and Open Government Development", the 5th Regional Internet Governance Forum, 2nd seminar EU4Digital: ICT Innovation Network, seminar on "Accelerating the application of the Asia-Pacific Information Highway and the Trans-Eurasian Information Superhighway Initiative".

Also, as part of the business program planned by the organisers of the Bakutel 2017 exhibition, an ICT conference will be held under the theme of "New opportunities in a connected world" and will include speeches and presentations on the products, services and projects of the leading participating companies such as Agile, Comfort International, Elcore Group, Microsoft Azerbaijan, Huawei, Bestcomp Group, Nokia, Softline and SMART Business and others.

On the first and second day of the exhibition, meetings will be held in the B2B format to provide the exhibitors and professional visitors with an opportunity to hold bilateral meetings.

In addition to business meetings and negotiations, all the visitors and exhibitors can expect to see many surprises, contests and quizzes. The exhibition visitors will have another unique opportunity to use Photobox, which will be installed in the lobby, to take pictures and instantly receive printed copies which can then be shared either through e-mail or on social networks. The second exhibition hall will have a play zone where games developed by local start-ups Pazl Khalcha and Yukseklik, as well as by Omarov’s Game Studio will be available to the visitors.

There is a children’s area at the exhibition where your children can be trusted to the professionals who will take care of your children as well as entertain them with useful and exciting activities. This service is gladly provided by Aqil and Bilgi, a permanent partner of Caspian Event Organisers.

Thus, the ICT sector of the country is looking forward to the international Bakutel exhibition, which is the main event of the ICT sector, and is preparing for the exhibition.

Among the partners Caspian Event Organisers in 2017, the tour operator Premier Tour, the official hotel Qafqaz Point Hotel and Hyatt Regency. The exhibition’s official newspaper, Daily News, will discuss exhibitors and events and will be distributed at the exhibition.This year the second day of the exhibition coincides with the celebration of the professional day of employees of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Taking this opportunity, the organisers congratulate all the employees of the department, which always support the exhibition and take an active part in it.

All detailed information about the exhibition is available on the website www.bakutel.az .