Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 12 June 2024, an opening of the 4th International PLUS Forum “Digital Uzbekistan-2024” took place in Tashkent. The event was organized with the support of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, the National Agency for Prospective Projects and the Committee for the Development of Competition and Consumer Protection of Uzbekistan.

At one of the largest platforms in Central Asia, experts will discuss issues of interaction between government agencies, the banking sector and trade retail, promoting international cooperation in the field of eGOV, banking and financial technologies, as well as the deployment of new promising projects, including international ones.

PLUS-Forum Digital Uzbekistan is an open cross-industry platform that allows market participants to jointly discuss the most current topics, and also promotes the integration of fintech, retail and credit institutions and invariably arouses great interest among professionals in the payment industry and financial market.

To date, approximately 2,500 delegates have registered to participate in the Forum. More than 120 speakers will speak at the event, and more than 70 exhibitors from more than 30 countries will present their products, technologies and services in the exhibition part.

First Deputy Minister of Digital Technologies Oleg Pekos said:

“In recent years, the country has adopted important programs and initiatives for the accelerated digitalization of the economy and the development of e-government. The development strategy of the new Uzbekistan includes the following priority areas. Firstly, this is the accelerated development of the digital industry and IT entrepreneurship. Thanks to government support and a favorable environment for running an IT business, the number of residents of the IT park has increased to more than 2,100 companies employing over 29,000 specialists. Last year, they provided IT services worth US$1 billion and exported software products worth US$344 million. This year, our ambitious goal is to increase the export of IT services and software products to US$1 billion. This is the third time I am speaking here with a welcoming speech and having watched yesterday and the day before yesterday my previous reports, 2 years ago the goal of achieving US$1 billion was set in 2028.

We are ahead of these goals and this is very pleasing. The third priority is aimed at expanding the scope of e-government development. Last year alone, more than 200 additional services were introduced on the single portal of interactive government services, which made it possible to provide more than 21 million services through the portal. More than 100 software products and information systems have been developed and implemented as part of the digital transformation of such areas as education, finance, customs, agriculture, and geology. For example, due to the digitization of 370 customs operations, the time for document processing was reduced from 3 hours to 30 minutes. To organize the interaction of ministries and departments, a unified system of interdepartmental electronic interaction is successfully functioning, through which more than 117 thousand civil servants have generated and processed more than 146 million documents, and control is maintained over the execution of 128 thousand instructions from the country’s leaders.

Work is actively underway to introduce advanced artificial intelligence technologies into the everyday lives of citizens. This is how the MyID biometric identification system functions successfully, and a risk analysis system has been introduced for tax and customs administration. The fourth priority area of the digital economy is developing accessibility and increasing the reliability of network infrastructure. Today in the republic more than 32 million Internet users and 98% of populated areas have access to high-speed Internet. We are committed to actively integrating digital initiatives at the regional level and are confident that our forum will help identify priorities for restoring closer partnerships in the digital environment.”

Vyacheslav Pak, First Deputy Director of the National Agency for Advanced Projects, noted:

“Today’s event brought together more than 2,000 representatives of government agencies, banking sectors and trade retail from the CIS countries and other countries, who gathered to discuss new promising projects, exchange experience, and promote international cooperation in the field of economics and financial technology. In the Republic of Uzbekistan, as you all know, special attention is paid to the accelerated development of the digital economy, the introduction of advanced information and communication technologies in order to promote sustainable economic growth. On behalf of the agency, we would like to note that we note with great pride that today Uzbekistan is a leader in regulating the turnover of crypto assets not only among the CIS countries, but also in the world as a whole.

Our country has created a unique platform for doing business; there is a fully formed regulatory legal institutional framework in this direction. Along with this, progressive work is being carried out to develop the financial sector, including the capital market, where regulatory sandboxes have already been introduced, stock market indicators are growing, and based on recent events, we have created a regulatory framework for issuing green bonds. I would also like to note that there is explosive growth in the field of e-commerce.

I think that today many residents of both the capital and the regions can no longer imagine in their daily lives without various online services, marketplaces, aggregators of delivery orders and taxis. Therefore, I would like to note with even greater pleasure that in this area we have the first unicorn, that is, a company whose capitalization value is estimated at one billion dollars.

In particular, our respected president constantly pays special attention to digitalization and ensuring transparency in the activities of government bodies, introducing innovations and new approaches, creating a favorable investment environment, protecting and supporting business entities.”