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. Mr. Peter Bruck also considers that the products that used ICT area must be effective. According to him, we must think about innovation work in order to achieve these goals. This also will help to create broad opportunities for civil society. Mr. Peter Bruck considers that ICT development must get global character. So, digital divide can be eliminated. Everybody must initiate in this direction.

Mr. Ali Abbasov stressed the importance of giving freedom to the people related to ICT sector. According to him, the Government of Azerbaijan tries to involve the young generation in ICT. Mr. Abbasov considers that it is of high importance to direct them to this area. The state programme reflects all issues related to the acquiring skills and opportunities.

Mr. Peter Bruck stated that the dialogues, discussions and view exchange will help eliminate the digital divide. According to him, as other world countries Azerbaijan prepares for Tunis Summit, which will be held in November, 2005. The declarations will be developed for this Summit. The working group will include the private sector, data security and other issues in the declaration. After the preparation, the issues reflected in the document will be reviewed in the editing committee.

Mr. Serdar Canogullari, General Manager of Azercell Telecom stated that the the main objective of his company is to develop technologies. That's why Azercell company pays special attention to the developement and application of new emerged technologies. As he noted, Azercell company spends 3000 USD for the trainig of employees each year.

Mr. Fikret Aliyev, Professor of Baku State University expressed his high appreciation for the conference. He also stated that several actions are also being taken in the sphere of technologies resources. Mr. Aliyev noted that, the books of our scientists related to the ICT development are good example of it. According to him, energy saving was also fruiful from the point of view of information technologies. At the end of his speech, Mr. Aliyev suggested to create centers for registration of technical resources.

Mr. Paul Hoffert, Director of CHAIR BELL BROADCAST AVDNEV MEDA FOND shared his opinions with participants on eliminating digital divide. According to him, digital is mainly technological divide. Pointing out the elimination process in North America, he mentioned that there was progress in this direction in Azerbaijan. He also added that for fully eliminating this problem in Azerbaijan, certain period of time is needed.

Mr. Farman Abdullayev spoke about important measures in the direction of ICT development. Along with it, he mentioned the measures already taken in this direction. According to him, the organization that he represents does his best to contribute to the ICT development. Thus, the State Student Admission Commission organizes trainings in 11 regions of Azerbaijan. These trainings give preference to the programmes widely used in Eropean countries. " We try to educate teachers during those trainings. Because teachers can teach their pupils and it leads to dispatching knowledge more widely." - he stated.

Mr. Arif Bunyadov, Director of Information Technolgies Educatioanal Center focused on the preparation of effective cadres for ICT sector. But he also noted that there are lack of some resources for the relevant training. For this purpose he suggested the establishment of an agency or a department within the the Ministry of Information Communications Technology.

Chief manager of "AZERCELL Telecom" Mr. Sardar Canogullari declared that along with the issues related to ICT development, providing wide range of the country population with computers was more important. According to him, absence of computer in working places or homes is one of the factors impeding the ICT development.

After long discussions, the meeting adopted Baku Declaration on Digital Divide and Knowledge Economy.