The closing ceremony of the ‘Winter Cyber Security Camp 2023’ project jointly organized by the Academy of the State Customs Committee, the Technest Scholarship program of the Innovation and Digital Development Agency and "Coders Azerbaijan" has been held. The ceremony was attended by the executives of the Academy of the State Customs Committee, Fatima Alakbarova, head of the Digital Competence Development Department of the Innovation and Digital Development Agency, Azer Abbasov, deputy head of the General Department of Technological Innovations and Statistics of the State Customs Committee, Eshkin Mammadov, head of the Information Systems and Technologies Department of the Committee's General Department of Technological Innovations and Statistics, Seymur Hamidov, co-founder and board member of directors of ‘Coders Azerbaijan’, Teymur Hajiyev, executive director of "TIM Consulting" LLC, as well as representatives of partner organisations,  Academy staff and students.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the event, Deputy Head of Education and Innovations of the Academy, Araz Aslanli, greeted the participants and highlighted the importance of the project organized to train educated personnel with critical thinking skills in the field of cyber security. The deputy head emphasized that the participation of students in these types of training projects encourages them to focus on current vocational fields. Speaking about the productive cooperation relations with a partner of ASCCA, ‘Coders Azerbaijan’, Araz Aslanli expressed his gratitude to everyone for their contribution to the organization of the project. 

Fatima Alakbarova, department head of the Innovation and Digital Development Agency, detailed the Technest scholarship program and noted that one of the main objectives of the program is to contribute to digital development in the country. She also pointed out the importance of training cybersecurity professionals and the widespread interest in such projects among young people and emphasized her certainty that cooperation with ASCCA will be further expanded in the future.

Seymur Hamidov, co-founder and member of the board of directors of ‘Coders Azerbaijan’ made a speech and noted that the goal of the organization he represents is aimed at bringing together the industrial sector and the educational sector to train professional staff in the field of IT. He spoke about the effective cooperation relations established with the Academy of the State Customs Committee and thanked everyone who supported the successful implementation of the project.

Teymur Hajiyev, executive director of the Academy's partner organisation ‘TIM Consulting’ LLC, pointed out that there is a significant increase in the demand for human resources operating in the field of cyber security in modern times and highly appreciated the Academy's activities in the direction of training highly qualified personnel in the field of IT.

Later, the event participants have been presented with information about the educational program as well as the report on the work done within the project.

In the second part of the event, students presented their group works related to cyber security and voting was held.

In the end, certificates and gifts were presented to the project's winning team, participants and project volunteers based on the vote.

It is important to note that training sessions of the 14-day winter school were delivered by local specialists and experienced specialists from Turkiye and England and organized at the Academy of the State Customs Committee and "Coders Azerbaijan" Training Center. In the training involving 20 students of the Academy, the participants took part in intensive training and acquired knowledge and skills in the field of offensive and defensive cyber security.