February 24, 2006	Friday	Muharram 25, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 23: Pakistan on Thursday agreed to provide technical input and expertise to Azerbaijan to help the Central Asian state introduce deregulation in its monopolistic telecom sector.

“Azerbaijan had sought Pakistan’s help in the backdrop of our gains in the telecom sector and we have agreed to provide them whatever technical assistance and input they want to deregulate their telecom sector,” Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari said after a meeting with Azerbaijan’s Minister of Communication and Information Technologies Ali Abasov.

Both the ministers discussed ways to enhance bilateral cooperation with a particular focus on close collaboration in the telecom sector and establishment of optic fibre links between the two countries.

Pakistan offered to send a technical delegation to Azerbaijan to arrange consultative workshops with stakeholders for policy- making and regulation in the telecom sector.

Mr Abasov congratulated Pakistan on winning the GSM Country Leadership Award and expressed his desire to seek Islamabad’s help in the deregulation process likely to be introduced in Azerbaijan in the near future.

The Azeri minister also offered Pakistan to be part of a land- based submarine cable system which his country was keen to start in association with neighbouring countries including Turkey, Georgia and Iran.

Mr Leghari said Pakistan could be part of the existing trans- Asian-European cable or any other consortium being planned by Azerbaijan. However, the usage rates being charged for traffic on TAE were highly expensive for the operators which would instead prefer using the two submarine cables Pakistan was already linked to.

He said Pakistan could also serve as a corridor for Central Asian region because of its reliable and cheaper international connectivity. He said Pakistan was about to be linked with India through optic fibre while two additional submarine cables were also being brought to Pakistan within the next six months from UAE.

Mr Abasov said his country realised the cost issues involved in TAE cable with its over 90 per cent capacity still unutilised due to unbearable costs.

Azerbaijan is negotiating with countries including Turkey, Georgia, Ukraine and Russia and hopefully the cost issues would be resolved soon, he said.