Azerbaijan Takes a Digital Step Forward: First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva to Head New Digital Development Council

President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order to create the Digital Development Council, aiming to modernize how the government and economy work. This group will guide the country's move to complete digitalization, which includes growing online government services, adding artificial intelligence, and encouraging a strong innovation environment.

First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva will chair the council, adding to her many duties. She already manages major cultural and social programs through the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and is the First Deputy Chairperson of the New Azerbaijan Party. Now, she will lead a team of top presidential aides, important economic ministers, the Central Bank Governor, and the Executive Director of the State Oil Fund. This shows how seriously the government is taking the change to a technology-driven economy.

The Ministry of Digital Development and Transport will act as the council's secretariat. The council can hire local and overseas experts and create working groups to handle hard tech problems. This arrangement comes after a high-level meeting on February 11 concerning Azerbaijan’s New Digital Architecture. There, President Aliyev said that the success of this digital change will determine the country’s future. He mentioned the increasing danger of organized cyberattacks, noting that Azerbaijan fought off serious breaches last year and must now make cybersecurity a key part of national security.

While the government sees this as an important move, some economic experts are not so sure. They say that even though the country announced plans to diversify the economy over ten years ago, Azerbaijan still depends heavily on oil and gas money. These experts believe that moving to an innovation-based economic model needs more than new administrative bodies. It needs big changes to ensure that the country really moves away from natural resources and toward a competitive, technology-driven market. The Council’s yearly reports to the President will probably be the main way to tell if this new plan can connect goals with real economic results.