Creation of transit and regional information highway underway
The 24th Azerbaijan International Telecommunications and Information Technologies Exhibition and Conference took place at Baku Expo Center on December 4.
The 24th Azerbaijan International Telecommunications and Information Technologies Exhibition and Conference took place at Baku Expo Center on December 4.
Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies Ramin Guluzade said at the opening ceremony of the exhibition that Bakutel exhibition provides favorable conditions for the introduction of new technologies, establishment of contacts in the field of IT and other new opportunities.
He pointed out that Azerbaijan is working to improve the potential in ICT sector and create a transit and regional information highway.
Negotiations on Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM) project on establishment of fiberoptic highway connecting Europe and Asia are underway.
The project was initiated by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Communications and High Technologies at the meeting within the 14th "Bakutel" exhibition-conference in Baku in November 2008 by adoption of Baku Declaration. The aim of the project is to establish a transnational fiber optic line from Frankfurt to Hong Kong, from Western Europe to East Asia. This project will eliminate "digital distinction" and open new economic opportunities for landlocked Eurasian countries.
In 2009, the UN General Assembly adopted a special resolution on TASIM project, accompanied by the resolutions in 2012 and 2013 as well.
In 2013, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with 5 telecom operators participating in the project.
The transit line will reach Germany, passing through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
The realization of TASIM will consist of two stages: installation of the main Internet-transit infrastructure connecting the West and East; affordable access provision to Eurasian countries without open access to the transit infrastructure.
The minister also said that the work on the application of new technologies has been recently carried out, the Azerbaijani postal service acts as a transit post, the cargo from China is sent to other countries through the Azerbaijani mail. A big regional DATA center meeting Tier3 standards was created in the country as widespread use of ICT makes it necessary to keep information securely. Data center in Azerbaijan meets the most secure and up-todate standards in the region.
Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia and Turkey also held a roundtable on regional cooperation in the field of ICT within the framework of the exhibition.
Ramin Guluzade, Russian Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Konstantin Noskov, Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Mehmet Cahit Turhan and Iranian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahrami attended the meeting.
The meeting discussed issues of development of startup ecosystems, satellite, postal services, cyber security, cooperation in the development of international fiber-optic networks, design and management of technology parks, as well as information and experience sharing.
It was decided to establish a consortium for further development of information and communication technologies.
The sides are expected to cooperate in the fields of satellite communication, cyber security, the development of telecommunications infrastructure, etc.
The Iranian side has agreed to hold the next similar meeting in Iran.
The investment in ICT sector reached to 225 million manats ($ 132.39 million) over the first nine months of 2018. The sector's revenues increased from 1.1 billion to 1.2 billion manats (from $ 0.65 billion to $ 0.71 billion) and the growth rate of revenues was 7.7 percent.