Epress.am News from Armenia
The Azerbaijani government signed a formal agreement with Microsoft to help ensure that all government offices covered by the agreement will run legally licensed software, signaling a new commitment to reduce software piracy throughout the country, Microsoft Azerbaijan said, reports Trend news agency.
As part of this agreement, the Azerbaijani government has pledged to build legalized e-Government services in order to reduce the risks associated with non-genuine software and thereby improve services to citizens, business and government employees.
This agreement is aimed to address the high rate of piracy in Azerbaijan, currently at 88 percent according to the Business Software Alliance’s 2010 piracy study released on May 12, 2011.
“The agreement signed by Azerbaijan with Microsoft is a big step forward in the development of ICT as the priority area for Azerbaijan in next few years,” said Ali Abbasov, Azerbaijani Minister of Communications and Information Technologies.
“With a recognized track record in the region for strong economic development, Azerbaijan is aiming to move away from an economy reliant on resources to one that is capitalizing on the latest innovative technologies,” said Teymur Akhundov, Country Manager at Microsoft Azerbaijan.
“Microsoft Azerbaijan considers the signed agreement as fundamental to establishing a sustainable software market and attracting further investments into the country to generate valuable jobs and cement the perception of the country as regional leader in technology,” he said.
Photo detail: Trend News
