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EBRD says Azerbaijan improves quality of ICT in Caucasus

20 November 2014 12:50 (UTC+04:00)
EBRD says Azerbaijan improves quality of ICT in Caucasus

By Nigar Orujova

ICT projects implemented by Azerbaijan are helping to improve telecommunications in the whole Caucasus, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said in its Transition Report 2014.

Azerbaijan’s ICT sector has grown by an average of 25 to 30 percent per year over the last decade, becoming the second largest recipient of foreign investment after the oil industry, the EBRD stresses.

Azerbaijan singled out the ICT sector as a driver of growth in the early 2000s, the bank said.

“Since the early 2000s Azerbaijan has acknowledged the importance of developing its non-oil sector and diversifying its resource-based economy. Until 2010 the focus was mostly on improving infrastructure, resulting in communications networks being completely digitalized and the capacity of external internet channels being increased,” the reports said.

The liberalization of the telecommunications market has opened up opportunities for the private sector and tariffs for unlimited broadband internet have plummeted, it stressed.

The report also noted a number of other initiatives carried out in recent years. “The country’s e-government portal was launched in November 2011, with a total of 40 state agencies signing up by 2013.”

It was also noted that both state and private investment more than doubled between 2009 and 2011.

The report underlined Azerbaijan’s high-technology park that was launched in 2012, which business incubation centre had accepted 20 projects by March 2014.

“The country branded 2013 “The Year of ICT” and launched its Online Presence Project, which seeks to improve the accessibility of government and public institutions, as well as private companies, via online channels,” the EBRD said.

Moreover, the bank also noted in its report the State Fund for the Development of IT that in 2014 awarded grants to 31 start-up projects in high technology, e-payment software applications, air navigation systems and e-government, as well as the establishment of the University of Information Technology and the launch of Azerbaijan’s first telecommunications satellite, AzerSpace-1.

“These developments will improve the quality of telecommunications throughout the Caucasus and foster the development of Azerbaijan’s space industry,” the bank believes.

Since 1992, the EBRD has allocated $2.5 billion to implement 146 projects in Azerbaijan. Some $1.3 million have been allocated to finance 10 government-backed projects, while $1.2 million to finance 136 projects in the private sector.

The EBRD plans to allocate loans totaling $300 million to projects in Azerbaijan this year. It has allocated 163 million euros for the implementation of 17 projects in Azerbaijan in 2013.

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