Azerbaijan, Baku, 19 February / corr. Trend S. Babayeva/ The working group for the National Computer Project of Azerbaijan will hold its regular meeting in late February, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies of Azerbaijan said.
"The implementation of the project has been speeded up after the President had met with the head of the Microsoft Corporation in Davos in January," the Ministry said.
The National Computer Project envisages supplying low income families with computers on long-term credit with lower interest rates. The working group has already been established and the head of the project from Microsoft who is to visit Baku on 20 February has been appointed.
The previous meeting of the working group said that Microsoft and Intel must develop their proposals concerning privileges and Azerbaijan, on its part, should report on the situation in the market economy and measures the government plans to take in the future.
Some 10,000 computers are expected to be purchased for low income families in 2008. The project covers a term of three years, the cost of which has not been determined as yet.
The project will be submitted for the government's consideration after the final draft has been worked out.
According to the rough estimations by the Ministry, every 100 people in Azerbaijan account for 3 to 4 computers. The figure could rise by five times once the project is successfully implemented.