14.04.2022

On April 14, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting on the results achieved in the sphere of information technologies and tasks for this year.

At present, the information technologies have penetrated into all fields of life. The progress in other areas, as well as the growth of the quality and comfort of life of the population largely depends on the development of this sector.

Therefore, in recent years, the large-scale work has been carried out to improve the IT infrastructure and staff training. The quality and volume of services have increased significantly.

For example, if in 2017 the level of coverage of settlements with mobile internet comprised 30%, currently it is 96%. In 2017, the export volumes of the industry was only $600 000, last year this figure reached $46 million, and in the first quarter of this year $16 million.

More than 11 thousand young people work at the IT-Parks. The youth trained as a part of the “One Million Coders” project are laying a firm foundation for the future of the industry.

At the same time, there are many issues and untapped opportunities. In particular, the level of fiber-optic Internet coverage and Internet speed in the regions remain unsatisfactory. Only 38% of highways are covered by mobile web. The industry state-of-the-art is uneven across regions, 90% of IT-services are in Tashkent. The situation in Karakalpakstan, Andijan and Surkhandarya is particularly challenging.

The certain ministries and agencies use outdated, unreliable and non-integrated information systems.

The meeting has noted a number of other drawbacks and emphasized the need to accelerate the digitalization in all sectors and regions.

The new Development Strategy has set the goal of increasing the volume of IT-services to 2.5 times and exporting the industry to $500 million.

The President has highlighted that for this it is necessary to turn Uzbekistan into a regional IT Center.

It was instructed to constantly expand the range of services, to bring the volume of exports in the industry to $100 million by the end of this year. The task was set to attract more companies to the IT-Parks and organize remote service centers. Owing to this, more than 5,000 young people will get top-paying jobs.

The meeting has also analyzed the implementation of projects under an umbrella of the “Digital Uzbekistan 2030” program. By the end of this year, 404 regional and 133 sectoral projects shall be launched.

The Ministry for Development of Information Technologies and Communications was instructed to integrate another 70 services into the Unified Portal of Interactive Public Services. Thus, the total number of services on the portal will be 376.

The mobile applications will also be developed for another 50 services, such as the pension registration, obtaining personal certificates and insurance. This shall increase the number of online users of public services to 4 million.

The issues of expansion of telecommunication networks were also considered. In particular, this year it is envisioned to install 6.8 thousand new mobile stations, connect 80 remote villages to networks, increase fiber optic coverage to 80% and provide 60% of roads with a mobile Internet. The Mass Data Storage and Processing Center shall be launched in the Tashkent Region.

The instructions were issued to transform JSC “Uzbektelecom” into a high-tech company exporting quality services and obtain an international rating for it.

The issue of enhancing cybersecurity was also touched upon. The task was set to scrutinize the information systems of all ministries and agencies as well as adopt the necessary measures.

Another priority of the field is the development of science and education.

Currently, the digitalization of the economy requires another 12,000 highly-skilled professionals. In this regard, it was proposed to transform the Tashkent University of Information Technologies into a scientific and educational cluster, to create a modern IT-Park University.

The officials in charge reported on the issues considered during the meeting.