The original story was published by Meydan TV. This is a translated and edited version.
President Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree establishing the Digital Development Council, a new body tasked with overseeing digitalization, e-government, artificial intelligence, and innovation policy in Azerbaijan.
The Council is mandated to coordinate state digital policy, supervise related programs and projects, propose improvements to regulatory documents, and align the activities of government agencies. It will report to the President annually and will have the authority to bring in local and foreign experts and form working groups. The Ministry of Digital Development and Transport will serve as the Council’s secretariat.
First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva will chair the body. Its membership includes presidential aides, key economic ministers, the Central Bank governor, and the executive director of the State Oil Fund.
Background: The February 11 Meeting
The decree comes 16 days after a presidential advisory meeting on February 11 dedicated to a unified action plan called “Azerbaijan’s New Digital Architecture.” At that meeting, Aliyev laid out a sweeping vision and a list of competitive advantages he believes position Azerbaijan well for the digital era: its geography as a bridge between Asia and Europe, a stable investment climate that has attracted over $350 billion in foreign investment over 20 years, at least 2,000 megawatts of unused power generation capacity (a prerequisite for data centers), and strategic partnership agreements with the US, EU member states, and China.
Aliyev announced several concrete directives at the meeting: all government services are to be consolidated under the single “mygov” platform; each ministry is to designate a dedicated deputy minister for digitalization and cybersecurity; and a fiber-optic cable project linking Azerbaijan to the eastern Caspian shore is expected to be completed this year.
Digital Development Minister Rashad Nabiyev reported at the same meeting that the ICT sector grew 8.5% last year, internet speeds have risen from 12 to 90 Mbps nationally since the “Online Azerbaijan” project launched, and 270 state institutions now use the government cloud. He also flagged that IT exports remain stuck at around $100 million — well below potential — and set a target of scaling that figure to $1 billion through a combination of startup financing reform, attracting foreign tech firms, and expanding the innovation ecosystem.
Aliyev also noted that Azerbaijan suffered a “very organized and aggressive cyberattack” last year, underscoring the urgency of cybersecurity investment alongside the digitalization push.
Skepticism Remains
Despite the ambitious framing, some experts caution that Azerbaijan announced economic diversification goals roughly a decade ago and the country remains heavily dependent on oil and gas revenues. They are skeptical that targets around transitioning to an innovation-driven economy will materialize without deeper structural reforms — not just new institutions and action plans.