To President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you and the Azerbaijani people for successful organization of the 7th Internet Governance Forum, as well as for the hospitality shown to me and my entourage. I highly appreciate my meeting with you.
Choosing Baku and Baku Expo Centre as a venue for this important meeting was of profound significance for the four-day event to be a success. As you know the forum brought together more than 1,600 high profile delegates from over 128 countries. The participants of the forum discussed main fields of Internet governance, including connecting to the Internet and other issues, governing main internet resources, Internet governance for development, as well as the issues related to security, publicity, liberty and confidentiality.
I would like to stress the assistance of more than 300 employees of the Azerbaijan Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies and the role of 250 young volunteers in organizing the forum.
It was my first visit to Azerbaijan. I was deeply impressed by your country`s socio-economic development, especially achievements in the information and communication technologies and Internet fields. I believe this development will contribute to technical transformation of Azerbaijan, making the country the region`s driving force in terms of technologies.
Your government`s devotion to developing the ICT sector and expanding the application of the Internet in providing social services is already giving positive results. At the same time, I want to underline the fact that under your leadership the Azerbaijani government made the freedom of speech in the Internet a priority issue, and has carried out a range of events on this front.
The Department of Economic and Social Affairs, generally the United Nations, are interested in the continuation and the strengthening of partnership with the Azerbaijani government in further expanding socio-economic development.
Your Excellency, please accept the assurances of my highest consideration.
Wu Hongbo,
United Nations Under-Secretary-General
