Baku has hosted the opening of the event 'United Nations/Azerbaijan Workshop on the International Space Weather Initiative: The Sun, Space Weather and Geosphere'.

This workshop is being organized by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and the Baku State University. The workshop is supported by the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG) and US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

In his opening speech BSU Rector Elchin Babayev said that for the last couple of years, Azerbaijan has witnessed dynamic development in the information and communication technology sector. Today this sector has become one of the leading directions of the country's economy. In 2018, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev approved the state program for 2019-22 to develop services of domestic satellites. At present, satellites Azerspace-1, Azerspace-2 and Azersky, operated by Azercosmos are purposefully used in telecommunications, for remote observation of the Earth's surface with geoinformation services in our country. Currently, the first and only satellite operator in the South Caucasus, Azercosmos provides telecommunication and geological exploration satellite services.

He stressed that today Astrocosmıc and Atmospherıc Research Laboratory in Excellence Centre and Department of Astrophysics in the Faculty of Physics of  Baku State University, are engaged in a wide range of research and development projects in national and international partnerships. The main objectives of the research directions are investigation of basic space plasma physics phenomena in the solar-terrestrial environment, studies of the Sun and its influence on the Earth, its atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere, on human society, technological systems and climate.

Workshop covers a wide range of interesting topics related to all theoretical and practical-instrumentation aspects of Physics of Solar and Solar-Terrestrial Relationship, Space Weather, Global Navigation Satellite Systems.

The event is attended by Minister of Science and Education Emin Amrullayev, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports Indira Hajiyeva, researchers from 36 countries and four continents of the world.

The expected outcomes of the workshop will also include the development of recommendations to improve the accuracy and reliability of methods for collecting, exchanging and delivering space weather data, as well as modeling and forecasting methods. Discussions at the event will also link the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to their defined goals. The results and recommendations will be presented to the UN General Assembly in the report of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).