EAEU Prime Ministers participate in the Digital Almaty Forum
Almaty hosts the international forum “Digital Almaty: Digital Future of the Global Economy”. The heads of the governments of the EAEU countries, political leaders, CEOs of leading companies and international experts in the field of information technology attended the event. The main topic of discussion was building the region’s sustainable development based on big data and artificial intelligence.
The international forum has been taking place in Almaty for the third time. This year more than 400 experts and speakers participated in the forum this year. The prime minister Askar Mamin attended the opening of the forum. Before the forum, the head of government met with a specially invited guest of the event — UN Under-Secretary-General Fabrizio Hochschild, with whom he discussed pressing issues of the UN digital agenda, as well as the role of Kazakhstan in promoting digitalization and innovation in the region.
Speaking at the forum’s plenary session on the topic “Building a Sustainable Region based on Data and Artificial Intelligence,” the prime minister noted that the total economic effect of using artificial intelligence in Kazakhstan could amount to about $25 billion per year. The greatest effect is expected in the service sector — up to $15 billion a year, and in the mining sector — up to $9 billion. The International Technology Park of IT Startups Astana Hub, where the Alem IT Programming School using modern approaches and techniques learning operates, is to become the Innovation Center.
“In September 2019, we opened an innovative IT University. At the moment, the issue of cooperation between the IT University and advanced IT companies and development institutions such as Amazon and UNICEF is being worked out. On the basis of the Astana International Financial Center, together with the Qwazar company, which specializes in training programmers, it is planned to open an innovative programming school,” - Mamin said.
The head of government noted that, together with the World Economic Forum, an agreement was reached to launch the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution of the WEF on the basis of the Astana International Financial Center. The launch is expected before the end of this year.
The prime minister emphasized that Kazakhstan has already taken the first steps to use artificial intelligence technologies as part of the Smart Data Ukimet project. The Institute of Smart Systems and Artificial Intelligence was created on the basis of Nazarbayev University.
The head of government noted the need for coordinated measures within the EAEU to create favorable conditions for the development of artificial intelligence technologies. The prime minister emphasized that the use of artificial intelligence in the field of transport and logistics will contribute to the optimization of transit routes, in the customs sector will accelerate the time of border crossing, and in trade it will reduce the volume of shadow and counterfeit traffic.
The plenary session of the forum was attended by prime ministers of Belarus Sergei Rumas, Russia — Mikhail Mishustin, Moldova — Ion Chicu, deputy prime ministers of Kyrgyzstan Zhenish Razakov and Armenia — Mher Grigoryan, Chair of the EEC Board Tigran Sargsyan, UN Assistant Secretary General Fabrizio Hochschild, Director of Government Transformation at Amazon Web Services Liam Maxwell, Founder of the 01 Edu system Nicolas Sadirac and Director of the UK State Digital Service Chris Ferguson.
“Our task is to accelerate the pace of development of our country’s digitalization. It is particularly important to attract the global giants involved in the development of 5G mobile communication, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence and Big Data. We need to leverage on the capabilities of these companies and our internal capabilities and be at the forefront of digital technology. All the necessary conditions have been created for investors in Kazakhstan. Today, we are also ready to provide full support and necessary information for investors planning to implement projects in Kazakhstan,” - noted Yahiya Tuleshov, IT Project Adviser at KAZAKH INVEST during the event.
The heads of government of the EAEU member states awarded prizes to the winners of the Digital Almaty Awards in the categories “Best IT Solution for the City,” “Best Startup Project,” “Big Data – Company of the Year,” “Best IT Project in the Public Sector,” “Woman of the Year in IT,” “IT Champion of the Year.”
The forum participants got acquainted with the exhibition of IT companies and start-up projects of Kazakhstan on automation and digitalization of processes in law enforcement, financial, banking, educational and medical fields.
Image source: primeminister.kz
