Baku, March 13 (AZERTAC). Azerbaijan`s Minister of Communications and Information Technologies Ali Abbasov gave an exclusive interview to the Qatar News Agency (QNA), as part of the Connect Arab Summit 2012, held on March 5-7 in Doha.

Ali Abbasov said that the attendance of HH the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani in the summit was a “strong indication” of the intentions of the State of Qatar to enhance its ICT projects.

He also praised the high-ranking delegates of Arab nations that were present in the summit, adding that it was another indication of how the Arab World intends to invest in ICT.

On bilateral relations between both Azerbaijan and Qatar, Minister Abbasov said that they were prospering by the day. He added that the scope of cooperation had expanded in the last few years to reach new sectors such as tourism. The latest development was Qatar Airways` launching of a direct route from Doha to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

The Minister also revealed that the two governments are working on a new agreement in the field of ICT.

On his participation in the Connect Arab World Summit 2012, the Minister said that the objective of his country`s participation was to share Azerbaijan`s experience of enhancing their ICT sector with Arab countries and specifically its experience in changing its legal framework in order to attract more investment in the sector.

The Minister also said that Azerbaijan was also pursuing a grand ICT project similar to the Arab ICT Highway. “The project was called the Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM). The project was backed by the international community during the UN`s General Assembly meeting on December 21, 2009. The project aims at bridging the information gap between the West (United States and Europe) and the Asia Pacific region. This will be achieved through building new networks in the region that will provide more internet traffic for the non-west users, allowing them to produce more content,” said Abbasov adding the GCC can have a role to play in that project as well due to their location which lies between the West and the Asia Pacific. The Minister revealed that there will be another ICT project that aims to create an information highway starting from Germany all the way to the Sultanate of Oman. “The project aims particularly at overcoming the weakness of connectivity in that area, as well as for providing more content from that region.”

The Minister referred to the implementation of E-Government services in his country five years ago and encouraged Arab countries to implement it as well plus the service that it allowed full transparency, increased the productivity of the government, offered new frontiers for small and medium businesses as well as limiting corruption. The Minister also revealed that his country will continue to enhance its ICT sector.

He said that more projects will be on the way, including launching a new satellite later in 2012 as well as introducing high-tech education, a plan that will be completed by 2020. He said that the new projects are part of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Alliyev`s vision to pursue development “in the space, on the ground and under water,” the Minister said.