Azernews.Az

By Nigar Abbasova

The European Commission is ready to finance a large-scale e-trade project in the country.

Tofig Babayev, director of the Regional Information Technologies Academy (RITA), told Trend that the Commission is ready to finance Azerbaijan’s projects prepared as part of the "Harmonizing Digital Markets of EU and Eastern Partnership Countries – HDM Initiative" in 2018-2019.

In 2015, the country developed six projects under the initiative and submitted them to the EC for financing. The projects covered six areas of HDM Initiative, including e-customs, e-commerce, e-business, and e-security.

The HDM Initiative is aimed at addressing important issues on formation of the legal basis, improving customs procedures and implementation of software for trading. It envisages the creation of a single digital zone, which provides entrepreneurs with a single field in order to conduct trade operations and mutual settlements. The initiative consists of 14 important aspects, including the creation of legislation, customs, and software for trading.

Babayev recalled that in December 2016, Lithuania hosted a two-day conference of the EC dedicated to the Initiative in the e-trade, the concept of which combined such areas as e-commerce, e-customs and e-logistic.

"In accordance with the decision made, starting from the first half of 2017, the Eastern Partnership countries will begin studies regarding the implementation of projects that combine all these directions in the e-trade.

The selection of experts from six participating countries of the Eastern Partnership is currently underway. The contract with experts will be signed in mid-February 2017. The work in this direction is planned to be completed by May 2017. It is also planned to resolve issues related to the mutual recognition of e-signatures within the e-trade sphere, which is a part of the cross-border trade transactions," he said.

Babayev noted that for several reasons, it is not possible to name the exact amount that may be required for implementation of the projects.

The HDM Initiative includes countries of the Eastern Partnership that is Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia.

The EU aspires to be a key foreign investor in Azerbaijan, while the support of the union amounts to around €30 million each year. The EU also supports closer economic integration with Azerbaijan through the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and the Eastern Partnership initiative.

The share of European countries in Azerbaijan’s foreign trade stood at 37.12 percent in January to September of 2016. European countries account for nearly 27.89 and 45.87 percent of Azerbaijani import and export respectively.

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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