BAKUTEL: ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL IT CONFERENCE OPENS IN BAKU

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD EINV ECPS BTIO AJ
SUBJECT: BAKUTEL: ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL IT CONFERENCE OPENS IN BAKU

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1. (U) The 13th annual international exhibition and conference
"Telecommunications and Information Technologies," known as Bakutel,
was held in Baku November 21-24. The exhibition featured 152
exhibitors from 25 countries with organizers expecting 15,000
visitors this year. High ranking GOAJ officials like the Prime
Minister, Minister of Information and Communication
Technologies(ICT),Minister of Economic Development, and members of
Parliament attended the opening ceremony, as did several visiting
foreign dignitaries. Although the President was traveling and
unable to attend, his recorded speech opened the event. The
Ambassador also attended the opening session.


2. (U) Azerbaijan's plans for a Regional Innovation Zone (RIZ),an
idea the GOAJ launched at last year's Bakutel event, took center
stage during Minister of ICT Ali Abbasov's opening speech. Abbasov
said the goal is "to turn Azerbaijan into a regional center of
production and export of goods and services in information
technologies based on the model of Azerbaijan's oil sector." He
said he wanted the RIZ to help quadruple Azerbaijan's ICT revenues
to 4 billion USD by 2012 and to equal oil revenues by 2015 - 2020.
The RIZ, and the benefits and challenges of special ICT zones, was
also the main topic of the conference on November 22. The
conference was chaired by International Telecommunications Union
(ITU) Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure and officials from
Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Jordan, Moldova, Russia, Turkey, and
Vietnam, as well as leaders of leading private ICT companies
participated.


3. (U) In his opening speech, Azerbaijan Minister of ICT Abbasov
highlighted developments in Azerbaijan's ICT sector in 2006-2007,
citing a doubling of data flow, a 700 percent decrease in the price
of internet connectivity, 300 percent growth in the number of
internet subscribers, and a 400 percent increase in the nmber of
mobile phone subscribers among other achevements. As part of the
GOAJ's policy to promote strong growth of the ICT sector, Abbasov
mentioned several laws to be adopted soon to facilitate e-signature
and e-documents, e-commerce, obtaining information, and
telecommunications.


4. (SBU) A number of American IT companies such as Apple, AvirTel,
Cisco, Dell, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun
Microsystems, 3COM, and others had individual booths or were
represented indirectly by Azerbaijani ventures. Some of the
companies had high-level executives visiting to participate in the
event. Several private businessmen told the Ambassador that it was
noteworthy that the number of Russian and Iranian companies and
visitors to this year's event had increased dramatically, because of
the GOAJ focus on the ICT sector and the opportunities to be found
in Azerbaijan's growing economy.


5. (SBU) Comment: While the GOAJ is devoting resources and
high-level attention to Minister Abbasov's vision of the RIZ, the
concrete steps needed to make it a reality are slower to come.
However, within the last year, several American IT companies like
Cisco, Oracle, and 3M have opened regional representative offices in
Baku to take advantage of the growing IT opportunities in Azerbaijan
and the Caucasus region. The IT companies currently operating in
Azerbaijan are supportive of the RIZ concept, but they are not
waiting for its implementation to go forward with expansion plans.

LU