EU to consider IT funding projects in Azerbaijan

By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli  

Financing of the projects developed by Azerbaijan within the framework of “Harmonizing Digital Markets of EU and Eastern Partnership Countries – HDM Initiative” for 2017 will be considered at the ministerial meeting.  

The meeting is scheduled for October 16-17 in Brussels, said Tofig Babayev, the director of the Regional Information Technologies Academy.

He told Trend that the Azerbaijani delegation will be headed by Deputy Minister of Communications and High Technologies Elmir Velizade.

HDM Initiative envisages the creation of a unified digital space and the digital market at a broad level so that entrepreneurs could have a single numeric field for the trading and settlements.

The Initiative aims to address 14 important issues, including: the creation of the legislative base, the improvement of customs procedures, the introduction of software for trading, and so on

Azerbaijan has prepared six project proposals in accordance with the requirements of HDM Initiative, which had been submitted previously to the European Commission for funding.

The projects developed in six areas of HDM Initiative, including e-customs, e-commerce, e-business, and e-security, etc and will be further implemented in Azerbaijan.

Babayev emphasized that on October 4-5 Brussels hosted the meeting on HDM Initiative dedicated to the ICT Innovation Event, where six countries of “Eastern Partnership” and the European Commission took part.

“The meeting was dedicated to the exchange of information on innovations in the “Eastern Partnership” countries,” Babayev said.

Relations between Azerbaijan and EU are based on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement signed in 1996 in Luxemburg and entered into force in 1999.

Azerbaijan is also included in the EU Eastern Partnership program adopted under the initiative of Poland and Sweden and approved at the EU summit in Brussels in 2008. The program's aim is to expand cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Armenia, Moldova, Georgia, and Belarus.

It envisages a significant increase of the level of political interaction and integration of former Soviet republics into the EU economy, increasing the volume of financial aid and strengthening energy security.