Professor Ali M. Abbasov is Minister of Communications and Information Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, a position he has held since 2004. He has had a long and remarkable career in academia, education and the public sector. His recent experience includes posts as director of the Institute of Information Technologies of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Azerbaijan (1991-2000), and rector of Azerbaijan State Economic University (2000-2004). As minister, Prof. Abbasov pays special attention to accelerating the transition to the information society and the formation of the digital economy; application of e-government solutions and new technologies; and the development of broadband services and human resources. He is has been the initiator of several national and regional projects and oversees their implementation. He also played special role in the establishment and further development of Internet access in Azerbaijan. Prof. Abbasov has lectured and conducted research in such fields as the digital economy, network design and applications, and artificial intelligence. His PhD degree from the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine was on the topic of microelectronics. As a professor of information and computer sciences at the Azerbaijan University of Technologies, he serves as a full member of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Azerbaijan and as a fellow of the IEEE. He was a member of the National Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan (2000-2004) and a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (2001-2004).