Azernews.Az

Changes in the world show that Azerbaijan, like all countries, needs to deepen the digitalization of the economy, Director General of AzerTelecom LLC Fuad Allahverdiyev told local media.

Allahverdiyev said that currently, reforms on building digital economy are underway in Azerbaijan, and large-scale public and private programs are being implemented.

A partnership is being created between the state and private owners to promote the country as a digital hub at the global level and apply digital technologies, he added.

“The Azerbaijan Digital Hub program and various projects within this program are aimed at deepening the digitalization of the Azerbaijani economy and creating a stable technological infrastructure for building such an economy. Major content providers such as Facebook, Google, Netflix, Amazon, Alibaba, and Tencent attract Azerbaijan to meet the traffic needs of Asian countries, and, as a result, this creates an opportunity for Azerbaijan to become a digital center,” said the director general.

“Successful implementation of the program will ultimately create conditions for the formation of a digital ecosystem in Azerbaijan, the creation of a digital economy, and an increase in the share of the digital sector in the economy. Looking at the economic indicators of different countries, we see that the share of the digital sector of the economy is multidirectional. For example, in South Korea these indicators are 12 percent, in Sweden - 8.6 percent, in Finland - 8.3 percent, in the US - 7.4 percent, in the UK - 7.1 percent," said Allahverdiyev.

According to the World Economic Forum, in the next decade, 70 percent of the new values ​​in the economy will be created on the basis of digital platforms. Google predicts that by 2025 the volume of the digital economy in Southeast Asia will triple and reach $240 billion, he added.

“Given the importance of building a digital economy, countries around the world are taking various initiatives. Countries such as the US, the UK, France, Norway, Qatar, China and Russia have created specialized agencies and adopted national programs in this field for more efficient progress in building a digital economy and making digital transformation processes more efficient,” he stressed.

In the current conditions, Azerbaijan, using its potential, has the opportunity to accelerate the processes of digital transformation, build a digital economy and achieve sustainable development thanks to a unified state policy and coordination, Allahverdiyev added.