Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Digital Leadership Forum will be held in Tashkent on 7-9 July this year. This forum is one of the necessary events in Uzbekistan for the participation of companies that want to show their business to the whole world. More than 300 BPO and IT outsourcing companies, foreign organizations, entrepreneurs and more than 20 speakers from all over the world take part in the forum. This provides candidates with an excellent opportunity to promote their companies as a leading provider of IT outsourcing and BPO services.

At the opening of the forum, the Minister for the Development of Information Technologies and Communications of the Republic of Uzbekistan Sherzod Shermatov spoke. During the presentation, Sh. Shermatov spoke in detail about the IT opportunities that are available in Uzbekistan, about new programs and projects being implemented in the country in order to develop the IT sector. It was noted that within the framework of the relevant Decree of the President of the country from 5 May 2020, large-scale work is being carried out. In particular, on the basis of the Strategy "Digital Uzbekistan - 2030", 7 branches of the IT park were launched in the republic, 3 temporary branches were created.

In addition, in 2023-2024, it was planned to create them at the expense of the local budget in the Republic of Karakalpakstan, Bukhara, Namangan, Kashkadarya, Surkhandarya, Tashkent and Navoi regions.

Main forum topics:

- Panel session: how to achieve US$5 billion in exports by 2030 through outsourcing of BPO and IT services?

- Digital transformation of Uzbekistan: Opportunities for the development of IT outsourcing and BPO;

- Promoting economic growth through technology and innovation: digital transformation of Uzbekistan;

- International Centre: Experience of Dubai and Prospects for Uzbekistan;

- The future of customer experience in the context of globalization;

- Venture session: Venture capital ecosystem of Uzbekistan: review and implementation of international strategies;

- Women’s GAP session;

- Panel discussion: "ethical and regulatory issues in the field of artificial intelligence";

- Conference "Global IT Skills Gap: investing in IT education to meet needs";

As part of the "Digital Uzbekistan - 2030" strategy, the introduction of a digital government system, and representatives of leading experts from our country and foreign companies participate in several similar topics.

Within the framework of the forum, the opening of a regional office of Huawei and a BPO center of ZTE will take place.

It is also expected that Beeline will open a new business route, as well as the opening ceremony of the Acharya University.

IT

IT - 7 years ago this sphere was absolutely far away for Uzbekistan. In a short period of time, the entire infrastructure was built from scratch. In 2019, the Technological Park of Software Products and Information Technologies (IT-Park) was created.

In our country, comprehensive programs for the digitalization of economic sectors and the formation of a digital government have been adopted and are being effectively implemented.

As a result, in a short period of time, the IT industry has become one of the leading sectors of New Uzbekistan. Our country has become an attractive place for foreign countries. Infrastructure increased exponentially.

In 2019, the number of residents of the IT park was 147 units, and by the current year this figure has reached 1,400 residents.

The volume of services they provided in 2017 amounted to 179.9 billion soums, and by the end of 2022 it was already 5.1 trillion soums, an increase of 28.3 times, and the weight of exports increased 82 times, rising to US$140 million.

In total, 12 regional branches of the IT park were created in the republic, as well as representative offices of the IT park were opened in the USA and Germany.

Today, the potential of Uzbekistan and the opportunities provided to foreign IT companies attract reputable foreign IT companies to Uzbekistan. The result is effective: the number of foreign companies has increased from 4 to 200 in 7 years.

There is a dynamic growth in the export of the industry: in the sector where there was no export 7 years ago, in 2020, export works were carried out in the amount of US$17 million, and in 2022 this figure was US$140 million.

In 2016, remote self-employment in Uzbekistan was not developed, and the population did not work in this direction. Today, however, 45,000 freelancers are employed online.

Thanks to the development of the industry, young people have received new professions. Over the past 7 years, 187 BPO centers have been created in our republic and 500 young people have been employed.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH

Youth is the biggest resource in the IT field. However, until 2016, the state did not allocate sufficient funds to support their ideas and projects. Today, all opportunities have been created for them to receive education, implement their ideas and projects.

In particular, in order to interest young people in improving their knowledge in the field of information technology, a system was introduced to cover 50% of the costs of obtaining international IT certificates.

Thousands of young people who have received international IT certificates have been reimbursed up to 50% of their costs. And the most important news: from October 1, 2023, boys and girls who receive such certificates will be reimbursed 100% of their expenses.

One of the most significant news: today, in order to increase the number of innovative youth projects that can compete in the global IT market, the President Tech Award competition with a prize fund of US$1 million has been organized.

Such competitions will help to increase qualified personnel in this area. If we analyze, then in 2016 the number of employees in the field of information and communication technologies was 25 thousand, and the number of specialists working in the IT field was 2.5 thousand.

By the end of 2023, 56,000 people will be employed in the ICT sector, and 65,000 people in the IT sector.

The number of legal entities operating in the field of information and communications in 2016 was 6,370, and today their number has increased by 1.9 times and reached 12,204.

Record results in the development of the industry are recorded. Please note that the annual export value of US$47 million in 2020 was reached in just 3 months in 2023. That is, in the first quarter of this year, IT services were exported in the amount of US$48 million.

ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT

Another important branch of digitalization is increase in the number of services provided through the Single Portal of Interactive Public Services. In 2016, the number of electronic public services was 197, and today access to more than 430 electronic services is provided through the my.gov.uz portal.

In 2016, the number of registered users was 400 thousand people, and in 2022 this number reached 6.3 million.

The results achieved increase the position of Uzbekistan in international rankings. In particular, in the e-government development rating, in 2020, our country ranked 87th among 193 countries, and in 2022 it rose by 18 positions, taking 69th place.

Also, according to “Open Data Inception”, Uzbekistan ranked 4th among 201 countries in terms of the number of open data sources.

Of course, to further develop these efforts, a state-of-the-art Data Storage and Processing Center was created.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Another important area is the telecommunications infrastructure. If analyzed, the cost of connecting to the Internet at a speed of 1 Mbps in 2016 was 522 thousand soums, in 2023 it was reduced to 30 thousand soums.

To cover the regions with fast and high-quality Internet, the length of fiber-optic communication lines has been increased from 20,000 km to 170,000 km. This means an increase of 8.5 times.

Another important fact: in 2016, the volume of ICT services per capita was 198,000 soums, and by the same period in 2023, the volume of these services increased by 3.2 times and reached 642,900 soums.

The cost of connecting to the international Internet for operators and providers has decreased by almost 33 times and amounted to US$2.7.

As a result, the number of Internet subscribers in 2016 amounted to 22 million, and by the end of 2022 reached 31.1 million.

At the same time, over the past 7 years, the cost of mobile Internet has decreased by almost 9 times, and in the world ranking of the cost of the Internet, Uzbekistan has risen from 68th to 15th place.

THE INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Important cooperation is also underway in Uzbekistan to further develop the digitalization network. In this regard, on 24-27 October 2022, the information technology week "ICT WEEK Uzbekistan - 2022" was organized in Samarkand.

During the week, 22 international events took place, in which more than 15,000 people took part. Investment contracts worth more than US$200 million have been signed.

The main goal of all digitalization efforts is to turn Uzbekistan into an IT hub of the region.