Baku Declaration on Digital Divide and Knowledge Economy adopted

November 27, 2004 - During the third day of the global ICT Conference "Digital Divide and Knowledge Economy: Problems and Solutions" co-chaired by Mr. Peter Bruck, Chairman of World Summit Award (WSA) and Mr. Ali Abbasov, Minister of Communications and Information Technologies, ICT specialists delivered speeches.

Mr. Telman Aliyev, representative of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Azerbaijan stressed that this conference devoted to the establishment of the information society, wide use of ICT, elimination of digital divide was a historical event. The speaker mentioned that he received a lot of information in the conference due to the detailed speeches. According to him, the digital divide is a serious problem for the society. So, building e-government can play a vital role in solution of this problem. He also mentioned that ICT equipments must be produced using information technologies. In the end, Mr. Aliyev suggested that elimination of problems could help to achieve goals.

Pointing out the elimination of digital divide, Mr. Peter Bruck mentioned that ICT played specific role in economy. According to him, in order to investigate the expences the research work has been done among 150 companies. Total amount of expenditure is 20 billion USD - 1 mln.USD for equipments, 3 mln. for programme maintenance and 16 mln. For application. The last point includes trainings, courses and others. Mr. P.Bruck drew the participants' attention to the involvement of innovation work. According to him, joint cooperation is required for the solution of problems, such as ICT development, elimination of digital divide. Dialogues and view exchanges can also be useful in this direction.

more   

Discussion in "Knowledge Economy" session

November 26, 2004 - The opening speech in the section "Knowledge Economy" was made by Mr. Marco Borsotti, UN Resident Coordinator, UNDP Resident Representative.

Mr. Marco Borsotti briefly informed participants on the issues having been discussed since the starting of the conference. According to him, the development of ICT also contributes to the improvement of life standards of people too. Mr. Borsotti also stressed that the knowledge economy will influence all spheres of economy saying that "The issue concerns the improvement of people's life standards".

Mr. Kamran Imanov, Chairman of the State Copyright Agency made a speech on the "Knowledge economy and Intellectual Property Rights: Azerbaijani Case Study".

more detailed   

Global ICT Conference in Azerbaijan started

November 25, 2004 - "Gulustan" palace of Baku hosted Global ICT Conference "Digital Divide and Knowledge Economy: Problems and Solutions". Mr. Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary General of International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Mr. Peter Bruck, Chairman of World Summit Award (WSA) organization, Mr. Ahmet Toumi, Director General of International Telecommunication Satellite Organization (ITSO), Mr. Nurudin Mukhitdinov, Director General of Regional Union in the Field of Communication of CIS Countries - RSS, and other representatives attended the opening ceremony. More than 70 representatives from about 40 countries participated in the opening ceremony of the conference.

Mr. Abid Sharifov, Deputy Prime-minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ali Abbasov, Minister of Communications and Information Technologies and other responsible persons of the government entities represented the Government of Azerbaijan. The event was also attended by the representatives of foreign embassies, international and national organizations, and private sector.

more detailed   

Prof. Dr. Ali M. Abbasov
Minister of Communications and Information Technologies

The Government of Republic of Azerbaijan, represented by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies and the World Summit Award (WSA), jointly organize the GLOBAL ICT CONFERENCE BAKU - 2004. The initiative is held under the honorary patronage of the President of Republic of Azerbaijan, H.E. Ilham Aliyev, who will be personally present at the opening ceremony.

With the theme "Digital Divide and Knowledge Economy: Problems and Solutions", the Conference will showcase the world's best practice in quality e-Content in the framework of the World Summit Award Exhibition and place a special emphasis on value added and demonstrating the concrete benefits of quality e-Content to the ICT industry and the general public.

full text