Date:06/12/12

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies receives ambassadors of foreign countries

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan (MCIT) has held a meeting with ambassadors of the European Union member. During the meeting the minister of communications and information technologies Ali Abbasov provided the ambassadors of foreign states with information about the current state of the ICT sector in Azerbaijan, the reforms being implemented in this sector and future perspectives.

"Azerbaijan has now entered a new stage of development. The Republic has adopted the Development Concept "Azerbaijan 2020: Look into the Future", which will facilitate the development of information technologies, promote formation of the knowledge-based economy and insure development of the non-oil sector during the next 8-10 years.

Azerbaijan has set a goal to double the size of its gross domestic product (GDP), minimize the role of the oil factor in the economy, insure an annual 20 percent increase in information and communication technologies in the next 10 years and enlarge the volume of the ICT sector by about 4 times.

These targets can be achieved through the comprehensive development of the Internet, including the 85 percent increase of the broadband high-speed internet in the next 3 years and raising the minimal speed of the broadband internet up to 10 Mb per a second. The project, which will be implemented in conjunction with the State Oil Fund, will be realized mainly with the use of the optic network. Besides that, we want to create favorable conditions for the development of information and communication technologies in the country, improve the competitive environment and soften monetary, money-and-credit and tax-customs policies." While speaking about the development of the space industry in Azerbaijan, the minister noted the large-scale projects implemented in the country in this direction, including construction of the Ground Control Centre, preparations for launching the first artificial satellite into orbit in February 2013, expansion of electronic services, etc.

"In future, the Government of Azerbaijan will continue to provide its support for the "e-Government" project. We think that in 2020 about 80 percent of Azerbaijan’s population will benefit from e-gov services. In future, the government plans to increase the volume of investments in order to start production of new high-technology-based products and services for the export. 3.6 billion US dollars are expected to be spent by 2020 for this purpose.

At the same time, we expect that direct foreign investments will be made in the development of the ICT sector in Azerbaijan, and that about the same amount of investment will be made by the private sector in this sphere. Therefore, we consider the European Union to be very important partner of Azerbaijan. The European Union has its own strategy of development till 2020, in which the ICT sector also plays a special role in the future economic development", he said.

Then, the head of the EU representative office in Azerbaijan ambassador Roland Kobia gave a high assessment to Azerbaijan’s hosting of the VII Internet Governance Forum and expressed his congratulations in this regard. He stressed the importance of holding such kind of dialogs between countries. "The exchange of experiences in information and communication technologies between countries is very beneficial for the future development. Such meetings create new opportunities for the cooperation with Azerbaijan.

The Development Concept "Azerbaijan 2020: Look into the Future" is important for the European Union, because it allows the latter to familiarize itself with Azerbaijan’s future perspectives, including plans for the ICT sphere. We want this cooperation to be long-lasting.

" After that, the minister answered to the ambassadors’ questions. The meeting was attended by the deputy head of the Presidential Administration (PA), the head of the Foreign Relations Department of PA, Mr. Novruz Mammadov.

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