Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In July, Tashkent hosted the international Digital Leadership Forum, gathering more than 300 companies from all over the world. VEON Group, represented by Boris Tadić, the Advisor for Government Relations, was among the largest global corporations participating in the forum. The visit to our country provided an opportunity to discuss with him the digital transformation of Uzbekistan and VEON's plans to participate in this large-scale process.

- What were your expectations from the Digital Leadership Forum, and why did you decide to participate in it?

- Large-scale events like this open up numerous opportunities. We studied the current state of the market, the plans of other companies, and presented our own projects. Most importantly, we were reassured that Uzbekistan is committed to its path of digitization. On the contrary, the Minister of Digital Technologies, Sherzod Shermatov, announced that the export of IT services, which amounted to $0.6 billion six years ago, is projected to grow to $5 billion by 2030. According to the ministry's forecasts, it will reach $300 million this year alone. This is a tremendous leap made by the country through the purposeful efforts of the government. Why is this so important and interesting for VEON? Because Uzbekistan is a country where we can invest in its economy and be confident in the promising future of our projects.

- When forming investment plans, do you focus only on official data?

-  Not only, but also on independent international data that confirm Uzbekistan's progress in digitization. Just one example: at the end of last year, Uzbekistan ranked 40th in the world and 1st in Central Asia in the Open Data Inventory (ODIN) ranking of the Open Data Watch organization. So, since 2020, the country has risen by four positions, which is not an easy feat on a global scale. The reason I mentioned this particular ranking is that it takes into account the state of the public sector and the openness of organizations to citizens. In Uzbekistan, processes in the judicial system and government procurement have been digitized. The Unified portal of interactive public services is actively developing. In total, over 100 information systems are integrated into the E-government ecosystem. This number alone says a lot about the scope of work in this direction. This transformation reinforces VEON Group's commitment to investing in the country's economy, including participating in the implementation of the 'Digital Uzbekistan 2030' strategy.

- What is VEON currently investing in?

- The traditional focus is on the development of a subsidiary of VEON Beeline Uzbekistan mobile communication infrastructure. In 2022 alone, we allocated $50 million for the expansion of our digital operator's network, which now includes over 15,000 base stations across the country with significant 4G coverage.

The second important direction is the development of new business areas related to the government's plans to transform Uzbekistan into an international IT hub. Specifically, we established another subsidiary, VEON AdTech, dedicated to developing high-tech IT solutions. These solutions will be exported to the countries where VEON operates, with a combined population of over 600 million people, or approximately 8% of the world's population. I am confident that this will help Uzbekistan achieve the goals Minister Shermatov discussed at the forum. Additionally, in 2023, one of our priorities is to establish our own data processing center, which will ensure a high level of data security within Uzbekistan.

Finally, the third significant focus is on investments in education. We are ready to contribute to the formation of a national IT specialist pool and support young people aspiring to pursue careers in the digital field. For instance, Beeline Uzbekistan and Tashkent International University of Education have signed a memorandum to establish the Beeline Academy. This academy will help train IT specialists for various sectors of the economy. In the future, the academy's experts will conduct courses and training programs across the country.

- Are you talking about preparing personnel for companies within the VEON Group?

- Of course, no. The scale of this work far exceeds our needs. Although our interest in local specialists is high. For example, the VEON AdTech staff consists of young programmers from Uzbekistan, with more than half of the employees being female IT professionals, including highly talented data scientists. However, we are interested in the overall development of the digital sphere in Uzbekistan, and this development will primarily be driven by the youth. The country's population exceeds 35 million people, and it is expected to increase to 50 million in the foreseeable future. Uzbekistan is a young country, with an average age of 29. And this represents tremendous potential. Children and youth are very different from us; they practically live in the digital world from birth and are receptive to modern learning formats. This gives us confidence that Uzbekistan's digital development will be carried out by those whom VEON supports now, increasing investments in the development of professional education and the upgrading of the IT specialists in the country.