Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan joined the new regulations of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Azerbaijani Communications and IT Ministry said on Monday after a document was signed by Minister Ali Abbasov, Trend news agency reported.

The new regulations will come into force after ratification according to the Azerbaijani legislation.

The new ITU regulations are to ensure the free flow of information worldwide and was agreed within the World Conference on International Telecommunications, held in Dubai on December 13-14.

The text of the agreement focuses on further efforts to help developing countries, to promote access to information for people with disabilities and to approve the right of all people to freedom of speech within the networks of information and communication technologies.

A decision was made at the conference to create a single global number for the emergency services, as well as new provisions aimed at improving the energy efficiency of ICT networks and help combat e-waste.

Long discussions at the conference were caused by such complex issues as safety of networks, determining the organisations providing services in accordance with the terms of the agreement, the principle of non-discriminatory access to each other's networks and the issue of whether to include freedom of speech in the preamble of the agreement.