Agenda
President Ilham Aliyev: ICT is the rapidly developing and most promising sector
The sector of information and communication technologies is developing very fast and has a great future. The adoption of the National ICT Strategy in 2003 and the subsequent adoption and implementation of the state program on electronic governance gave a major impetus to the development of this sector. In the years of independence more than $3 billion was invested in the ICT development in Azerbaijan. As a result, the sector of information and communication technologies has expanded 8.2 times in the last decade. The launch in 2013 of Azerbaijan’s first telecommunication satellite into orbit and the establishment of a space industry has been a historic event. Work is currently under way to launch two more satellites into space in the years ahead, President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview to the Business Year magazine.
The Internet has also developed very rapidly in recent years. According to a report of the International Telecommunication Union, up to 70 percent of Azerbaijan’s population uses the Internet. We have started building broadband Internet channels to all cities of Azerbaijan.
I want to draw your attention to another fact. We don’t just apply the innovations existing in the world but also try to initiate some innovations ourselves. I would like to emphasize what can be described as Azerbaijan’s own brand – the State Agency for Public Services and Social Innovations and its “ASAN Xidmət” [Easy Service] centers. The scope of “ASAN Xidmət” services includes coordination of services provided by public agencies, oversight and evaluation, mutual integration of government databases, effective provision of electronic services and modernization of management systems. This service is an example of a progressive government-citizen relationship. The centers currently provide a total of 25 legal services. It is no coincidence that over a million people have applied to the service in a matter of one year. Therefore, we intend to further expand the scope of services provided by “ASAN Xidmət”.