Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies to be set up in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani President, IlhamAliyev, signed a decree on setting up the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, thus merging into one the two ministries – the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies.

RaminGuluzade, former Minister of Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan, will head the newly setup ministry – Azerbaijani President’s official website reported.

The Ministers’ Cabinet has been tasked to elaborate within 2 months a draft Regulation on the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies, as well as a proposal on the ministry structure and its staff number, and to submit it to the Azerbaijani President.

When asked about his future position, ZiyaMammadov, ex-Transport Minister, told the Yeni Musavat newspaper: “I don’t know myself, what and how it all is going to be. I’m not on my own, am I? This issue is beyond my competence.”

• The newly appointed Minister, Ramin Guluzade served as the Communications and High Technology Minister a little bit more than 1 year. Before that, he used to be a co-head of HeydarAliyev Foundation.
• Ex-Transport Minister, ZiyaMammadov, headed the Transport Ministry since 2002. He was accused of corruption by various media outlets on the number of occasions.
• ZiyaMammadov’s son, AnarMammadov, is known for having joint business projects with the incumbent U.S. President, Donald Trump. Namely, he had constructed the Trump Tower center in the heart of Baku. However, after he was elected the U.S. President, Trump revoked a license in view of possible conflict of interests.