Ali Abbasov, the Azerbaijani Minister for Communications & Information Technology, stated at the 17th Plenipotentiary Conference which began in Antalia, Turkey on 6 November, that the international organizations, particularly the UN, had selected a strategy on global integration as one of their major goals. The role of the International Union of E-communications (IUE), as an organization which has been conducting international policy in the telecommunications sector over 141 years and has an irrefutable role in the achievement of this objective, Trend reports. The Forum will last until 24 November.
The Minister noted that the IUE applies advanced high technology to carry out its objectives, including the Internet. The Internet has become a base in the establishment of a Global Information Society. The Geneva and Tunis meetings of the World Summit on Information Society proved the complexity and insuperability of the process world-wide, Abbasov stressed.
At the same time, the meetings of the Summit held during the co-ordination of the IUE and the UN's initiative concluded with final documents. However, three important problematic issues should be analyzed within the framework of the IUE, the Azerbaijani Minister emphasized.
The first is the selection of an optimal approach towards the establishment of the Global Information Society, the second is the resolution of digital division' problems through direct co-ordination of interaction with the Global Alliance on Information Society (GAID) and the third is the resolution of a problem with the management of global network with the help of Internet Forum (IGF). Abbasov announced that all subjects were to be discussed seriously at a meeting on 2 October of regional ministers under the Global Alliance and it was finally resolved to take into consideration the following factors:
- information technology leave behind the development of telecommunications and enter the unified area with the television, forming a triple, and even quadruple attachment; increase of international and inter-regional digital divide' in this stage is inadmissible;
- like every scientific discovery, the Internet is also an achievement of the civilization and the factor should be an only approach to universalization of its management.
The Minister stressed that serious technical problems arose during the development of technical standards in the development of new technology.
For instance, serious international discussions on the application of ground work digital television are underway and the process is expected to be completed by 2015. Simultaneously, the development of IP television, including large-stripe access, is in progress. We are late in processing this and it is necessary to accelerate the rate of co-ordination of efficient technology, he reiterated.
The Minister urges the co-ordinating of electro-magnate compatibility and distribution of radio and television channels in the border area and territory that became uncontrolled as a result of inter-nation conflicts, for instance, the Nagorno-Karabakh, together with several regions of Azerbaijan. The co-ordination of licensing to launch communication needs improvement. The monopoly is inadmissible and the IUE should fight against it.
Azerbaijan is a young country, which has rich resources, a rich culture and human potential. It is actively integrating into a world information area. We have defined Information Technology as a second priority in economy after the energy sector. This year we are, for the first time, nominating our candidacy at the Council of International Union of Ecommunications and look for your support, Abbasov stressed in the end of his remarks.
The delegation's visit concludes on 12 November.