Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 5 / Trend H. Valiyev /
Regional communication commonwealth (RCC) is expanding mutually beneficial cooperation between communication administrations in the field of networking and communication equipment, information technologies and governing the radio frequency spectrum, Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Abid Sharifov said at the 47th joint meeting of the council of heads of RCC communication administrations and 18th Coordination Council of the CIS member states for Informatization under the RCC.
He said that the organisation contributes to a fruitful cooperation with the International Telecommunication Union and the Universal Postal Union.
The Baku meeting of RCC heads of communication administrations will give a positive impetus to the expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation of the member states.
"Real GDP in Azerbaijan has increased threefold for the last seven to eight years in the industrial sector fourfold, in agriculture - by 1.3 times, in the construction sector by 3.1 times and in transport and ICT threefold," Sharifov said.
He said that around $102 billion has been drawn since 2004 to develop the economy from all sources of funding. Around 49.8 per cent were financed from domestic sources. During this period, around $38.1 billion was invested in the oil and gas sector and more than $60 billion was transferred to the non-oil sector, as well as to develop the financial sector of the economy.
During these years, the population's income increased by 5.3 times, the average salary by 4.7 times and the minimum salary - 10.4 times. The poverty rate declined from 44.7 per cent in 2004 to 7.6 per cent in 2011. During this period, the number of enterprises has doubled.
"At present, telecommunications services and information technologies are rapidly developing in Azerbaijan, as well as throughout the world, today," he said. "Azerbaijan holds leading positions on certain types of communications. Around 65 Internet users and 30 broadband Internet users fall to every 100 people."
He said that one of the most important achievements is to lay telephone lines in all areas and to electrify the entire telephone network later. The mobile sector of the Republic is also developing dynamically. At present, around 110 mobile phones fall to every 100 people in the country. This is higher than the average level.
"The first Azerbaijani telecommunications satellite will be launched in early February 2013," he said. "The satellite coverage area will include Europe, Asia, Africa and the countries of the Economic Cooperation Organisation. The telecommunications satellite services will enhance cooperation among the ECO member states."