Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Azerbaijan's Communications and Information Technologies Ministry is developing a draft state program on the development of e-government for 2013-2015. The draft program will be presumably submitted to the Presidential Administration by the end of April, the ministry said.

The new program is continuation of the state program on developing the ICT sector in Azerbaijan in 2010-2012.

The program is aimed to create the e-government, develop the methods of management by means of implementing modern information and communication technologies in state bodies, providing e-services, as well as taking comprehensive measures to provide simplified and free access of citizens and organizations to such services.

The e-government project, which mostly covers the government sector, is an integral part of the broad "electronic Azerbaijan" idea.

The establishment and development of the e-government in Azerbaijan will encourage fruitful work of the state bodies, guarantee its transparency and reduce bureaucracy.

The goal of the e-government is to reduce poverty, provide suitable conditions for the population's prosperity and address the issues reflected in the state program on poverty reduction and sustainable development in 2008-2015.

2013 was declared the Year of ICT in Azerbaijan and the ICT University was established under a presidential order on February 2.

President Ilham Aliyev also approved the regulations on the State Fund for IT Development and the Action Plan on the Year of ICT in Azerbaijan. According to the action plan, it is planned to develop an ICT strategy, improve the registration procedure of the national domain .az, and significantly reduce fees for telecommunication services and internet access.