TODAY.AZ / Business

Lithuania, Azerbaijan discuss co-op in ICT

17 October 2014 [12:20] - TODAY.AZ

/AzerNews/

By Nigar Orujova

There are good prospects for further expansion of relations between Azerbaijan and Lithuania, Azerbaijan's Communications and High Technologies Minister Ali Abbasov said.

He made the remarks at a meeting with a delegation led by Lithuanian Transport and Communications Minister Rimantas Sinkevicius.

Abbasov said communication and information technologies occupy a special place in enhancing friendly relations between the two countries.

Highlighting purposeful reforms carried out in the country, he said Azerbaijan ranked 49th in the Global Information Technology Report 2014 in terms of the Network Readiness Index (NRI) compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The country also holds a leading position in the CIS in terms of the number of broadband internet subscribers.

The minister also spoke about space industry, broadband internet and high technologies that are among the main priority areas in the country, including the future action plan on nuclear and development of nanotechnologies.

For his turn, Rimantas Sinkevicius expressed satisfaction with the current level cooperation between the two countries in political, economic and cultural fields.

He said bilateral relations between the two countries are developing successfully and noted that there are ample opportunities for cooperation in all areas, including information and communication technologies.

Speaking about the cooperation with Azerbaijan in areas of mutual interest, Sinkevicius said he supported joint activities in difference fields particularly in cybersecurity, money transfers. He also stressed the importance of joint participation in Horizon 2020- the EU's Research and Innovation Programme.

He noted that Lithuanian side is interested in receiving the services of the first satellite of Azerbaijan "Azerspace-1", and proposed to set up a working group to review proposals on cooperation in these areas.

For his part, Abbasov said that there is a mutual interest in developing cooperation at a high level. He called for the intensification of efforts to move the relations to the next stage of development.

Over the past five years, the information technology sector of Azerbaijan has increased two times. During 2013, the companies operating in the ICT sector generated a value amounting to 920.1 million manats, which was 6.8 percent more than the same period in 2012.

Currently, some 70 percent of the population use the Internet. The broadband Internet penetration among the population stands at 50 percent.

The Land of Fire ranks 48th in terms of the number of fixed broadband connections per 100 inhabitants, being ahead of Russia that stands at 50th place and Turkey at 69th.

The mobile phone penetration in the country stays at the level of 110 percent, thanks to its three main mobile operators. The number of mobile broadband connections in Azerbaijan is 43.9 per 100 people, and on this basis, the country ranks 46th.

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