Minister: Smart villages, cities to bring additional global benefits of $2.5 trillion in 5 years

According to estimates, the additional economic benefit from the introduction of the concepts of ‘smart village’ and ‘city’ in the world will be $2.5 trillion in the next five years, Azerbaijani Minister of Digital Development and Transport Rashad Nabiyev said at the international conference “Innovative Approach to Urban and Rural Development: Smart Cities and Villages” in Baku, Report informs.

“President Ilham Aliyev gave a special instruction to the ministry in connection with the concept of a ‘smart village.’ When developing this concept, it is necessary to take into account the specific context. We believe that when developing a concept, it should go through three filters. The first is efficiency and necessity. It is possible that the effectiveness of specific projects will be different, for example, in Ganja and other cities and districts. The second filter is sustainability. It is necessary to understand how durable the project is, in which so much public investment is made. The third filter is the benefit that the country’s ecosystem will receive from the implementation of the project. Applying this approach once again demonstrates that a citizen of Azerbaijan holds a central place in the policy of the head of state,” Nabiyev said.