BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 23. The Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament, Sahiba Gafarova, has met with a delegation led by the Director of the Cyberspace Administration of China, Zhuang Rongwen, who is on a visit to Azerbaijan, a source in the parliament toldTurkicWorld .
The meeting welcomed the high-level development of relations between Azerbaijan and China, which have reached the stage of strategic partnership.
The special role of the heads of state in the development of interstate relations based on the principles of friendship, mutual respect, and support was emphasized. Along with the existing active political dialogue, the expansion of cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, green energy, digital technologies, innovation, and artificial intelligence (AI) was highly appreciated.
During the meeting, Gafarova recalled her participation in the annual conference of the Boao Forum for Asia last month and praised her meeting with the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, Zhao Leji, as an important step in strengthening interparliamentary relations. She noted that during the discussions, ideas were exchanged on expanding cooperation in new areas.
The conversation also informed about the digital transformation policy being implemented in Azerbaijan. The speaker said that in recent years, Azerbaijan has been consistently pursuing a policy to form a new digital architecture for the state, initiated by the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev. In this context, she pointed out the importance of a conference held in February this year, dedicated to the unified action plan called "Azerbaijan’s New Digital Architecture".
She noted that the ongoing policy encompasses the development of critical infrastructure, the expansion of the digital economy, and the application of innovative solutions in state governance. The speaker highlighted a significant role of the Azerbaijani Parliament in contributing to the creation of a modern legislative base in this field. The conversation also covered the use of information technologies in parliamentary activities, cooperation in cybersecurity, and efforts to accelerate the application of AI solutions.
The meeting further emphasized that in the modern era, cybersecurity is a vital component of national security and should remain a priority area of focus.
Rongwen emphasized that China values its equal and mutually beneficial cooperation with Azerbaijan. The guest provided a detailed overview of his country’s recent achievements in the field of information technology, saying that China is ready to expand cooperation with Azerbaijan in areas such as the internet, cybersecurity, digital economy, AI, and other key sectors. Highly appreciating the work done in Azerbaijan in this area, as well as the fact that more than 90% of the country's population has access to the internet, the guest said that the results achieved in this direction are satisfactory.
During the talks, the sides expressed confidence that the relations between Azerbaijan and China, based on true friendship and mutual respect, will continue to develop successfully in all areas for the welfare of their peoples.
