A three-day global information communication technologies conference, “Digital Divide and Knowledge Economy: Problems and Solutions”, started at the Gulustan Palace of Baku on Thursday

A three-day global information communication technologies conference, “Digital Divide and Knowledge Economy: Problems and Solutions”, started at the Gulustan Palace of Baku on Thursday. About 70 representatives from 30 countries are participating in the event. Deputy Prime Minister Abid Sharifov, addressing the opening ceremony, read out a letter of congratulation from President Ilham Aliyev, after which Minister of Communications and Information Technologies Ali Abbasov spoke of the importance of the event. Abbasov noted that about half of the telephone communication system in Azerbaijan is digital and that currently there are 15-18 computers per 1,000 people in the country, and 5% of people in the country use the Internet. These figures are below international levels, he said. General Secretary of the International Telecommunication Union Yoshio Utsumi said the objective of the conference is to examine achievements of the state and private sectors in the ICT field, address problems related to the digital divide, issues related to creating a single world information society and study the experience of many countries, including Azerbaijan, in applying information technologies.