MINSK, 13 April (BelTA) - Belarus is counting on UN-Habitat's support for smart cities projects, Belarusian Ambassador to Kenya, the Permanent Representative of Belarus to the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN‐Habitat) Pavel Vzyatkin said during an online-meeting with UN‐Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Belarusian ambassador highlighted the important role of UN-Habitat in promoting urban green infrastructure technologies and achieving sustainable development goals. He said that Belarus has started implementing a number of smart city projects and is counting on UN-Habitat's support in this regard.
For her part, Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif noted that smart cities is one of the priorities of UN-Habitat and expressed readiness to provide the necessary assistance.
Ms. Maimunah Mohd Sharif has also invited Belarus to take part in the World Urban Forum in 2022.
BelTA has reported earlier that the state program on digital development of Belarus for 2021-2025 has marked a new stage in the integrated project "Smart Cities of Belarus", namely systemic practical implementation. The Communications and Informatization Ministry in partnership with the Minsk City Hall is working to develop the regional state digital platform “Smart city (region)” and a network of basic services for functioning of a city. For these purposes, the ministry has pooled theoretical and practical capacities of the national telecom operator Beltelecom in charge of the national information and communications infrastructure and appropriate services, the Information Technology Center at the Minsk City Hall that implements large-scale smart projects across the country, and the R&D and design and exploration organization Giprosvjaz that provides scientific support for the Smart Cities of Belarus project. The National Academy of Sciences of Belarus also takes part in the work.
Plans are in place to launch the regional state digital platform “Smart city (region)” in the regional centers and 11 cities (districts) with a population of over 80,000 that have been identified as possible centers of economic growth (Orsha, Baranovichi, Pinsk, Novopolotsk, Polotsk, Mozyr, Lida, Borisov, Soligorsk, Molodechno, and Bobruisk). Other activities include the launch of a national geoportal and the roll-out of a regional information and communications infrastructure and basic services for functioning of a city. In the future, the project will be expanded.
The Smart Cities of Belarus project will enable Belarus to build a modern system of regional management that will lay the groundwork for a comprehensive digital transformation of Belarus' economy and social sphere.
