BAKU, Azerbaijan, September
25. Azerbaijan possesses the necessary
infrastructure, energy, and digital connectivity capabilities for
the development and application of artificial intelligence (AI),
Deputy Minister of Digital Development and Transport Rashad Hasanov
said during the 2nd Azerbaijan International Investment Forum held
in Baku today, Trend's correspondent reports from the event.


He noted that alongside the rapid adoption of artificial
intelligence, it’s also crucial to create an appropriate
environment for the safe and responsible development and use of
these technologies.


"This requires a coordinated approach encompassing
infrastructure, human capital, cybersecurity, regulation, and, of
course, investment," Hasanov pointed out.


The deputy minister explained that countries are increasingly
focusing on developing AI strategies.


According to him, while approximately 30 countries worldwide had
AI strategies in 2019, the number of countries that have adopted
such strategies now exceeds 100.


"Today, it’s not just about having a strategy. The key issue is
the speed and quality of its implementation. Thus, the discovery
phase is gradually giving way to the implementation phase," he
emphasized.


Hasanov also noted that Azerbaijan is currently entering a new
stage in the fields of artificial intelligence and digital
transformation.


"The timing is right for Azerbaijan. We are entering a phase
where investments in infrastructure and artificial intelligence are
converging into a unified agenda," the deputy minister said.


He noted that any strategy or transformation begins, first and
foremost, with a vision and a high-level strategy. According to
him, Azerbaijan has adopted a number of important national strategy
documents regarding digitalization and development in recent
years.


Hasanov announced that the digital development action plan
encompasses four main areas and 56 initiatives.


"Our task now is to translate this strategy into action. It is
gratifying that we are not starting from scratch; we have
significant and strong foundations in place," he added.


According to the deputy minister, the digitalization of the
public and social sectors in Azerbaijan is already at a high level.
He noted that the number of users on the myGov platform exceeds 4
million.


"For a country with a population of 10 million, having 4 million
users on the myGov platform represents a very good start in terms
of the digitalization of government services. We plan to increase
this figure to 5 million by the end of the year," Hasanov said.







He noted that a number of government services have already been
digitized, and work is ongoing to digitize others.


The deputy minister shared that government agencies, in
collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Development and
Transport, have adopted roadmaps for digitalization, and work is
currently underway to implement them.


According to him, the migration of government information
technology systems to the "G-Cloud" government cloud is also
proceeding, with the process scheduled for completion by the end of
2027.


"This will be a significant step toward ensuring the integrated
resilience of government information systems," Hasanov
emphasized.


The deputy minister noted that Azerbaijan is not merely
discussing artificial intelligence but has already begun
implementing the technology within government agencies.


"We are moving beyond talking about artificial intelligence to
actually applying it. There are already real-world examples of AI
usage in government agencies. These include student management
systems in education, an AI-based cybersecurity center, crop
disease forecasting in agriculture, and the myGov AI assistant that
responds to citizen inquiries," he noted.


Hasanov said that establishing high-performance computing
capabilities to advance AI research is also a key priority.


"High-performance computing capabilities require reliable
energy, connectivity, and physical space. Azerbaijan possesses
capabilities in each of these three areas," the deputy minister
clarified.


According to him, Azerbaijan's strategic location between Europe
and Asia, the extensive coverage of the country's fiber-optic
network, and a surplus electricity generation capacity of
approximately 2 GW create significant opportunities for the
development of AI and data centers.


Hasanov also noted that work is underway to establish a data
center in the Alat Free Economic Zone.


"We are currently in the final stages of negotiations regarding
the establishment of a data center in the Alat Free Economic Zone.
To realize this initiative, we have held extensive, long-term
discussions with numerous hyperscale data center and cloud
companies," he mentioned.


The deputy minister also said that the underlying logic of this
approach is the transformation of energy into computing power,
computing power into AI and digital services, and those
capabilities into high-value-added exports.