Azeri ambassador, European Commission VP eye coop outlooks

Azerbaijan`s ambassador to Belgium, concurrently, head of the mission to the European Union Fuad Isgandarov has met with Vice-President of the European Commission and European Commissioner for Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes.

The ambassador provided information about importance of the TASIM project, events to arranged because of designation of 2013 as the ICT Year, allocation of 140 million manats from the State Oil Fund to improvement of the internet infrastructure, Fiber-to-Home internet program in all regions of Azerbaijan.

The ambassador briefed Ms. Kroes about provision of transparent and effective services as part of ASAN Service.
The diplomat pointed out that the number of Facebook users exceeded 1 million in Azerbaijan, adding the government does not put any restrictions to Internet usage in the country.

The diplomat pointed out that Azerbaijan intends to boost the ICT sector, saying the study of EU`s experience would help expand bilateral cooperation.

Ms. Kroes noted EU is keen on cultivating friendly and sincere partnership with Azerbaijan and underlined the need for conducting a regular dialogue with EU with respect to internet freedom.

The European Commissioner for Digital Agenda said she believes in overall development of Azerbaijan and is ready to consider proposals concerning cooperation with the government of Azerbaijan.

The ambassador suggested organizing EU-Azerbaijan Internet/ICT Forum with participation of NGOs and private sector.



/AzerTAc/