Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

After some time, Azerbaijan will become a world leader in the wider use of new technologies, said Nobel Prize winner, Professor at Arizona State University Edward K. Prescott in his speech at the 10th annual PICARD conference in Baku.

The conference titled “Program of cooperation in the field of academic research and development in the field of customs" sponsored by the World Customs Organization was held in Baku from September 8-10.

The Nobel laureate expressed his opinion about the countries of Western Europe, America, the East, and Azerbaijan.

He noted that in many Western countries, people receive money from the state in the form of aid, spurring laziness and therefore causing the number of people willing to work to decrease. This is the result of state policy, and is a more important issue than the economy itself.

Outlining his thoughts about Azerbaijan, Prescott drew attention to the situation in the country over the past 10 years. He stressed that Azerbaijan's population each year becomes richer in comparison with other countries.

The Nobel laureate said that the situation in Latin America – Brazil, Argentina, Chile and others – is deteriorating gradually. European countries like Spain, Italy, and Greece are lagging behind in economic terms.

“At the same time I want to note that in Asia the situation is improving. In Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, there is a specific development,” he said.

The moderator for the second day of the conference, President of the International Network of Customs Universities and chief editor of World Customs Journal David Widdowson, expressed his gratitude to the Customs Committee of Azerbaijan for the excellent organization of the event.

The event was also addressed by a representative from the Australian Customs Service and the spokesman of Leuven research center of global governance.

During the discussions at the plenary session, the Director General of evaluating the activities and programs of the Azerbaijan State Customs Committee, Major General of Customs Service Igbal Babayev reported on “Management projects of innovative development of customs affairs at the Azerbaijan State Customs Committee: Azerbaijani customs practice.”

The three-day conference has gathered over 240 delegates from 53 countries.

The PICARD program was launched by the World Customs Organization in 2006 to provide a framework for cooperation between Customs and the academic world.

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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar

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