BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 6. Azerbaijan could consider establishing a Digitalization Commission – a co-ordination platform that would bring together all relevant stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of digitalization related policies and support programs, the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) told Trend, as it presented the report on Promoting Enterprise Digitalization in Azerbaijan.
“Such a platform should have a high-level mandate and could be established, for example, under the Prime Minister’s Office. It could have its own and independent technical secretariat providing the members with analysis and background documents. The Digitalization Commission should bring together all relevant public institutions, private sector representatives and academia. Its main objective should be to serve as a forum for dialogue and coordination on digitalization-related policies, but could also have a mandate to recommend formulation of policies, provide comments on draft laws and regulations and provide recommendations for its members and non-members on policy initiatives related to the digitalization agenda,” said the organization.
OECD notes that while the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport has been the main institution responsible for policies related to ICT, such as the implementation of the ICT Strategic Roadmap, as overall policy plans are moving towards digital uptake by firms, digital training, and cross-border e-commerce, the need to involve other institutions is becoming apparent.
“However, a lack of co-ordination among relevant institutions is preventing existing policy initiatives from achieving their full potential. In this context, Azerbaijan could improve co-ordination at all levels of decision-making and policy implementation to promote policy coherence, boost the impact and effectives of existing policies, increase utilization of digitalization support programs and infrastructure, and benefit from spill-over effects,” said the organization.
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