Deputy minister: IT revenues may equal oil revenues in Azerbaijan by 2020

IT revenues may equal oil revenues in Azerbaijan by 2020, Azerbaijani Deputy Communications and IT Minister Elmir Velizade said at a conference in economic development through education and technology today.

"Our challenge is to turn Azerbaijan into an information transit state, to establish a specialized institution, to increase export capacity, to develop the private sector and to conduct research," he said.

According to Velizade, the annual growth of the ICT sector is 30 percent in Azerbaijan.

"A sevenfold increase has been seen in the number of computers in the country in the past five years," he said.

Velizade added that 97% of the population use mobile phones, 45% use the Internet and 12% use broadband.

"The AzDATACOM National Internet Infrastructure, with a rate of 10 Gb / s, covers 90% of Azerbaijan," Velizade said.

The ministry has also established a fund to support education alongside local and foreign companies in Azerbaijan. Some 145 students were assisted in obtaining an education via the fund.

"Eight percent of subjects taught in the country's universities are related to ICT," he said. "Azerbaijan occupies a leading place in the world in terms of this indicator."

He stressed that the country approved the "Electronic Azerbaijan" program in 2005 and the "E-Azerbaijan-2" program in August 2010.


/Trend/