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Ulviyya Poladova

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In the modern world, digitalisation is no longer merely a technological matter. It is a question about the future of the state itself. Artificial intelligence, digital platforms and advanced technologies are becoming the foundation of the global economy, shaping countries' competitiveness and defining their place in a new international system. Under these conditions, technological lag inevitably affects economic growth, investment attractiveness, the quality of public administration and even national security. For Azerbaijan, therefore, digital transformation is not a secondary reform agenda but a strategic necessity that can help the country preserve and strengthen its position.

Azerbaijan's current digital course reflects an important shift in how the state understands governance, development and long-term resilience. Digital governance does not simply mean transferring public services online. It has become a strategic instrument for modernising state administration, improving coordination across institutions and building a more responsive model of government. In this sense, the country's recent digital agenda represents not just an administrative reform but a broader public policy transition.

A major milestone in this transition was the meeting chaired by President Ilham Aliyev on 11 February 2026 on the unified action plan for "Azerbaijan's New Digital Architecture." That meeting can be seen as the central political framework for the country's digital transformation strategy. Its significance lies not only in the adoption of a plan but in the fact that digital transformation was elevated to the level of a national development strategy.

The economic dimension of this transformation is especially important. Digital public administration is presented not only as a governance mechanism but also as a driver of economic growth. On 10 December 2025, the Strategy for the Development of the Digital Economy in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2026-2029 was approved by presidential decree. The strategy focuses on increasing the digital sector's share in gross domestic product and expanding the use of digital technologies across different areas of the economy. This is a significant development because it frames digitalisation as a tool of structural transformation.

The fact that Azerbaijan became the first country in the South Caucasus to adopt a digitalisation strategy through a National AI Strategy further reinforces the image of a state trying to move early and position itself as a regional leader in technological governance.

At the operational level, the "Action Plan for Accelerating Digital Development for 2026-2028" gives the clearest picture of how this transformation is being implemented. The plan includes 58 initiatives across digitalisation, artificial intelligence, the innovation ecosystem and cybersecurity. This is important because it shows that the government does not view digital development as a single reform, but as an interconnected system. Digital services, AI deployment, innovation capacity and cyber resilience are being treated as mutually reinforcing pillars. That integrated approach is essential if digital transformation is to move beyond slogans and deliver lasting institutional change.

The implementation logic of the plan also appears to rest on inter-agency coordination. Minister of Digital Development and Transport Rashad Nabiyev stated at the first meeting of the Council for Digital Development of the Republic of Azerbaijan, chaired by First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva, that road maps had been prepared with 40 state bodies, 13 of which had already been approved or were at the approval stage.

Rashad Nabiyev also provided information on the establishment of the National Data Centre and emphasised that work continues on migrating state information systems to the government cloud and constructing a new data centre. Noting that the number of users of the "mygov" platform had increased from 2.7 million to 3.5 million over the past three months, while its range of services had been expanded, the Minister said that several applications had already been integrated into the platform and that services from seven more state applications would be made available to citizens by the end of the year.

The Minister emphasised that artificial intelligence is one of the Action Plan’s key priorities. He said that the use of AI solutions is being expanded within "mygov" and other state institutions, and that a virtual citizen assistant has already been introduced.

Touching upon the development of the innovation ecosystem, Rashad Nabiyev noted that work had begun on establishing the Azerbaijan Resilience Cluster to bring together companies operating in areas that strengthen technological sovereignty. He also highlighted ongoing efforts in the field of cybersecurity, noting that work continues on establishing the National Security Operations Centre, the National Cyber Incident Response Centre, and the Digital Forensics Centre, as well as creating a unified national cybersecurity platform to ensure operational information exchange between the public and private sectors.

Earlier, Deputy Minister of Digital Development and Transport Sameddin Asadov noted that the foundation for AI development is a strong digital public infrastructure. This is a crucial point. Artificial intelligence cannot function effectively in an institutional vacuum. It requires digitised services, quality data, interoperable systems and a reliable infrastructure environment. In that respect, Azerbaijan's progress over the past five years in building digital public infrastructure may prove more important than any single AI initiative. The state's emphasis on platforms, cloud migration, data integration and service delivery creates the underlying conditions without which AI would remain superficial.

In recent years, Azerbaijan has accelerated the implementation of digital technologies in government administration, healthcare, education, transportation, and the financial sector.

• In the public sector, digital platforms are increasingly used to provide online government services, allowing citizens to access documentation, apply for services, and complete administrative procedures electronically.
• The healthcare sector has also seen growing digital integration, including electronic medical records and online appointment systems, improving access to healthcare services and data management.
• In education, digital tools and online learning platforms are being used more widely, expanding access to educational resources and supporting remote learning opportunities.
• The financial sector has experienced rapid digital transformation, with the expansion of online banking, mobile payment systems, and digital financial services, making transactions faster and more convenient for users.

The country's digital agenda is about more than technology. It is about power, competitiveness and institutional readiness in a century increasingly defined by data, platforms and intelligent systems. For Azerbaijan, the stakes are high, but so are the opportunities. If current plans are implemented effectively, digital transformation may become not only a tool of modernisation but one of the defining foundations of the country's next stage of development.