On the margins of his working visit to Kazakhstan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today attended the Almaty Digital Forum 2021, which is held under the motto: “Digital Reset: The Leap To The Next Normal.” Among the participants are the heads of government from EAEU-member states, Eurasian Economic Commission Board Chairman Mikhail Myasnikovich, CIS Executive Committee representatives.

A ceremonial video session was held prior to the plenary session, after which the Armenian Prime Minister joined the heads of government of other participating countries to get acquainted with the exhibits displayed in the Museum of Digital Projects.

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia delivered a speech at the plenary session of the Digital Conference, in which he stated:
“Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to start my speech by thanking Kazakhstan for hosting this digital conference. The conference has become a traditional platform for discussing issues relevant to the digital economy.

It is obvious that high technologies play a decisive role in enhancing the state’s competitiveness and security, as well as in raising people’s living standards. The highly technological nations are at the forefront of the international arena.

The Government of Armenia considers digitization, innovation and the latest technologies to be the most important tool for engineering an efficient and representative system of public administration, a favorable business environment and ensuring progressive economic growth.

The high-tech sector and digital technologies are the fastest growing sector of our economy. The turnover of IT companies in Armenia amounted to more than USD 400 million in 2020. It grew by about 20% as compared to the previous year. Staffing has grown by 22% in this area. More than 1200 operating IT companies are registered in our country at this point of time. Tangible tax benefits are available in accordance with the policy pursued by the Armenian government.

The pandemic posed highly challenging problems for society, businesses and the state, in general. They had to be addressed in conditions of quarantine or all-out lockdown. The need to work under such conditions led to the introduction of both a new management culture and the widespread use of digital technologies and solutions. The latter turned out to be the most important amid limited opportunities for physical contact practically along the entire chain of government and socio-economic activity.

We have been using digital technologies, electronic document management systems and e-government tools in Armenia. I would like to note that the social groups in need of support were identified with a high degree of accuracy and transactions on support measures were completed in the shortest possible time thanks to the use of appropriate technologies.

We provide for the implementation and development of government data policy, electronic services, e-government systems, coordination of digital processes, creation of common standards and digital environment. The government encourages the use of electronic tools to facilitate the introduction of digital technologies in the private sector.

The digitization process goes in tune with the common EAEU digital agenda. A platform for interaction between databases is being created, which optimizes data exchange processes between different systems and the digitization of a large number of public services.

I am pleased to state that the EAEU countries were able to use digital technologies in overcoming some of the problems caused by the pandemic. I mean the “Traveling without Covid-19: digital platform, which kicked off on February 1, and actually restored the free movement of citizens between Armenia, Russia and Belarus.

Armenia supported the EDB Digital Initiatives Fund project from the very outset, and we are grateful to our colleagues from the Fund and from the governments of Russia and Belarus for the joint work done under this project.

We need to move actively towards the implementation of other joint digital projects by using the capabilities of supranational institutions and development institutions. In addition to implementing joint projects, we should also work to scale successful solutions. There are many of them in each of our countries.

We should strive to achieve full-fledged and all-encompassing digitalization of services provided to citizens by the state. To this end, we need to use the entire range of electronic services - mobile phones, network services, cloud technologies, and so on.

We should strive to ensure that the borders between the EAEU states disappear at the digital level, and that existing restrictions are minimized. We see that the opportunities opened up through digitization can be used to increase the efficiency of free labor movement. The appropriate mobile application can collect and store within a one-stop-shop all information on available jobs throughout the EAEU, enabling people to fill out and submit the necessary documents to get the job of our choice.

I am confident that our joint work and exchange of experience will help us move confidently forward in all sectors of digital technology, to achieve success and the desired results. Thank you.”