ICT ministers of Turkic Council member states convene in Almaty
The Ministerial meeting that was hosted by Dauren Abayev, Minister of Information and Communications of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and Baghdad Amreyev, Secretary General of Turkic Council was participated by Mehmet Cahit Turhan, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Turkey, Bakit Sharshembiyev, Chairman of the Committee of Information Technology and Communications of the Kyrgyz Republic, Elmir Velizade, Deputy Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Dr. Károly Balázs Solmar, Deputy State Secretary of Info-communications, Innovation and Technology of Hungary.
In his speech, Secretary General Baghdad Amreyev emphasized the importance and the role that ICT plays in the socio-economic development of the Member countries. He expressed that Secretariat of Turkic Council through the Working Group meetings dwells on the joint projects critical to cooperation among the Member States concerning the core issues on cyber security, TASIM project and fiber infrastructure, satellite services and e-government.
In particular, referring to the 6th Summit of Turkic Council held in 3 September 2018 in Cholpon-Ata, Secretary General said that the Presidents of Member States accord high significance to ICT sector and they urged the Member States to continue their efforts to enhance their mutually beneficial cooperation and coordination in the field of ICT.
He stated that Turkic Council is ready to continue its efforts to strengthen cooperation and coordination among Member States in this field among others.
Referring to the four main cooperation areas in the framework of the ICT, Minister of Information and Communications of the Republic of Kazakhstan Dauren Abayev stressed the importance of the TASIM Project as a strategic initiative that will serve to the interests of all Member States. He also expressed his support to the proposal of Turkey to broadcast national TV channels of Member States through TURKSAT.
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Turkey Mehmet Cahit Turhan in his statement also underlined the TASIM project calling it as the future information highway that will connect East and West. Minister highlighted the role of Turkic Council in the strengthening cooperation and called on all member countries to intensify joint work to materialize the agreed-upon projects under the Council.
Chairman of the Committee of Information Technology and Communications of the Kyrgyz Republic Bakit Sharshembiyev emphasized his countries willingness to boost cooperation with Member countries in the field of ICT, particularly in satellite service (digital broadcasting) and through joining in the TASIM project.
Later, Deputy Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan Elmir Velizade, expressing the role of digitalization of economy in the country and mutually beneficial cooperation with Turkey on e-signature, called for enhanced cooperation with other Member countries in these two critical issues.
First time participating in Turkic Council Ministerial on ICT Dr. Károly Balázs Solmar, Deputy State Secretary of Info-communications, Innovation and Technology of Hungary emphasized the readiness of his country for close cooperation with Turkic Council Member States in ICT sector. He invited the Member States to take part at the ITU Telecom World 2019 event to be held on 9-12 September 2019 in Budapest and proposed to organize a Meeting of Ministers in charge of ICT of Turkic Council as a side event on the margins of the said event.
Ministers in charge of ICT in their statements shared the achievements, and challenges as well as touched upon further strategies/activities in developing this sector. They noted that the Member States of Turkic Council have a big potential in the field of ICT and expressed the importance of close and active cooperation among themselves through sharing best practices and implementation of joint projects in the fields, like innovation, the free flow of data, necessity of acceleration of TASIM project, e-signature and e-government, emerging digital technologies, cyber security and etc.
Following the opening statements, at the general discussions moderated by Secretary General Amreyev the Ministers touched upon main issues agreed by the experts of the Member States at the 4th Meeting of Working Group on ICT which was held on 30 January 2019 in Almaty, particularly in Cyber Security, TASIM project, Satellite Services and E-government.
During the above-mentioned 4th Working Group meeting on ICT, the experts discussed the modalities to realize the agreed-upon projects. They also presented new initiatives and proposals to embolden the ongoing cooperation in the field of ICT. Ministers adopted the Agreed Minutes of the Working Group meeting and agreed that the next meeting of the Ministers in charge of ICT of the Turkic Council will be held Kyrgyzstan in 2020.
Secretary General Baghdad Amreyev was accompanied by the Deputy Secretary General Dr. Ömer Kocaman, Project Directors Ali Civiler, Farrukh Jumayev and Zhanar Nughumanova.