Azerbaijan represented at 4th HDM Panel

The 4th EaP Panel on Harmonisation of Digital Markets (4th HDM Panel), organized under Platform 2 “Economic Development and Market Opportunities”, was held in Brussels, Belgium, on February 7, 2019.

At the meeting, the recently launched EU4Digital project was discussed and EU4Digital Networks coordinators reported on the work done and future plans.

Rashad Azizov, head of the Department of Innovative Development of the Information Society and Electronic Governance of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, who represented Azerbaijan at the event, said that a lot of work is being done in Azerbaijan to increase the level of digitalisation in the service sector. According to him, reforms are currently under way to ensure coordination between society, businessmen and government agencies, expanding the range, quality and coverage of public services based on these relations, as well as improving the climate of non-cash payments, supporting new ideas to form e-government, developing electronic signature and telecommunications infrastructure.

Rashad Azizov also noted that the transition to a digital economy in Azerbaijan provides for an increase in the production of added value in the non-oil sector. Therefore, the development of settlement infrastructure and human resources are in the spotlight. In this regard, the ministry has focused on the development of the ICT ecosystem over the past three years.

The event was also attended by the heads of the State Fund for Development of Information Technologies under the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, the Regional Innovative Technologies Academy.

The meeting continued its work with discussions on various panels.

The final findings and recommendations of the study on a Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) in the EaP countries were presented and discussed.

Besides, there was an exchange of views on a new regional programme for cyber resilience in the EaP and Roadmap towards a Regional Roaming Agreement between the EaP countries.

The draft Declaration of the 3rd EaP Ministerial Meeting on Digital Economy was introduced and discussed.