Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Companies involved in the ICT sector in Azerbaijan will be granted tax and customs benefits in the next two months, the Communications and Information Technologies Ministry said.

"Exempting them from taxes and customs duties will improve the profitability and efficiency of business in the ICT sector," the ministry said.

Earlier, ICT Minister Ali Abbasov said that the ministry had prepared proposals to reduce customs duties on imports of high-tech products.

According to him, the customs duty for the import of computers is three percent, while the duty on import of computer hardware is 10-15 percent of the cost.

"Due to the dynamic growth of the automation process of various state institutions there is a high level of imports of high-tech products in the country," Abbasov said.

In addition, the development of the domestic ICT sector and increasing its competitiveness requires optimization of pertinent tax legislation and allocating preferential loans.

Azerbaijan's ICT sector is rapidly developing, especially after 2013 was announced as the ICT Year in the country. ICT plays one of the leading roles in the non-oil sector of the country's economy and the budget revenues it generates have been increasing year-on-year.

An ICT high technology park is being constructed in Azerbaijan, and its creation is a priority for the development of the ICT industry.

The park is supposed to be a territory with all the necessary conditions for the development of new and high technologies and researches. The high-tech park also envisages involvement of local and foreign ICT companies.

In June, the government passed a decision making participants of the high-tech parks tax and customs duty-exempt for seven years, which will drive the development of this sector.