Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan attended the Baku E-Commerce Forum-2018 event.
The event, attended by more than 300 participants from international organizations, public institutions, investors, and SMEs, as well as more than 30 speakers, was also attended by Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, Director General of Communications Gökhan Evren, and Deputy Director General of External Relations of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Çisel Aslan. Within the scope of the program, Aslan, Deputy Director General of External Relations of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of Turkey, held meetings with Emin Efediyev, General Director of Azerbaijan Post. In the sessions organized, topics such as payment systems in e-commerce, legal and regulatory framework, logistics, information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure, and financing were discussed.
At the event jointly organized by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan, the European Union, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the needs for developing the best strategies for e-commerce, which has undergone rapid change in recent years, were put on the table.
In addition to high-level representatives from the Azerbaijani Government, representatives from the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan, UNCTAD, World Trade Organization, World Customs Organization, and Universal Postal Union attended the event, which was also hosted by the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and High Technologies of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ramin Guluzade.
Deputy Minister Sayan made a speech in the session titled “ICT Infrastructure and Services in the Development of E-Commerce,” where Mr. Ramin Guluzade also participated as a speaker, within the framework of the forum.
In his speech, Sayan emphasized that ICT infrastructure and services are among the most important factors in the development of electronic commerce, as e-commerce is entirely based on ICT.
Stating that global retail e-commerce sales reached 2.3 trillion dollars in 2017 and are estimated to reach 4.88 trillion by 2021, Sayan noted that e-commerce has experienced rapid growth in Turkey as well as worldwide. Sayan said, “In 2017, the e-commerce market volume in Turkey reached 42.2 billion Turkish Lira. Turkey's growth momentum over the last 15 years has also been experienced in the ICT field. We continue our efforts to bring ICT infrastructure to the most remote corners of Turkey.” Sayan also provided information about Turkey's work in the ICT and e-commerce fields during the program.