Azerbaijan becomes a regional leader on internet development, official says
Internet has become an integral and important part of the social and political life in Azerbaijan, and it has recently become one of the leading regional countries on the development of Internet, a senior official said Tuesday.
"More than 60 percent of the population use Internet," Ali Hasanov, head of the Presidential Administration's social and political affairs, said, commenting on Baku's hosting the VII Global Internet Governance Forum, jointly conducted by the UN and the Azerbaijani government.
"Free Internet, the dynamic growth of the number of its users, clear public policy in this area, expression of interest recently taken in Azerbaijan in this field were the reasons for choosing Baku as the venue of the forum," he told journalists.
Hasanov also said Azerbaijan continues the necessary work to launch its own satellite into space.
"Perhaps, after the satellite is launched in the near future,
the number of providers will increase and other Internet services
will be expanded," Hasanov said, adding that the Baku forum will
support further development of the Internet in Azerbaijan and play
a certain role in promoting Azerbaijan's success in this field.
"The participation of around 1,000 specialists and representatives
of the organizations involved in the management and development of
the Internet, in the forum, shows that Azerbaijan has fully reached
significant progress in the development of this sector," he
added.