By Trend

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that now new technologies, innovation, and digitalization are an important component of economic development, Deputy Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan Rovshan Najaf said Trend reports.

Najaf made the remark at a webinar organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) within the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors on the ‘Results and development ways’ topic.

The deputy minister said that the countries of Central Asia should expand economic ties.

During the meeting, the important role of digitalization during the pandemic was discussed.

Digitalization can actually create conditions for the expansion of various industries, such as electricity, transport, food transportation, economics, trade, and, finally, attracting investment.

The deputy minister believes that attracting investments is also extremely important for the region and this can be realized through partnerships between the public and private sectors.

“ADB and Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program are following these initiatives and countries should prioritize foreign investment in attractive infrastructure projects. Since there was a budget cut in the pandemic period, the use of private investment in this area will be quite effective,” noted Najaf.

“In addition, simplification of procedures in transport, transit and logistics transportation using digital platforms will surely accelerate the transportation of goods between countries,” Najaf added.

During the webinar, the parties exchanged their views on the promotion of regional cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a negative impact on global and regional trade.