MINSK, 4 August (BelTA) – The most comfortable conditions have been enabled for the IT industry in Belarus. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement in his address to the nation and the parliament on 4 August, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “Belarus is increasingly often referred to as an IT country. The most comfortable conditions have been enabled for the IT sector. The current accomplishments have been secured by the guys themselves. They initiated and prepared the Digital Economy Development Ordinance in 2017.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko reminded that the Belarusian IT industry's export amounted to $2.5 billion in 2019. “The number of new residents in one year exceeded the number of new residents registered in all the 12 years since the Hi-Tech Park was established. It is interesting that even despite the pandemic these companies continued growing and fast at that,” the head of state pointed out.
According to the president, the decision concerning the Hi-Tech Park was made not only for the sake of the IT companies. “What is an IT park? Billions in foreign currency for the country. These companies earn money abroad and leave it here. A huge contribution to our economy. A powerful IT industry is a testimony to the level of development of a nation. And the future belongs to it,” the Belarusian leader is convinced.
The head of state believes that it is necessary to put more efforts into introducing digital technologies in Belarus. “New information technologies mean artificial intelligence, smart city, services, public security, our own payment systems that do not depend on transnational ones. The world's digitization leaders have been identified as the USA and China. We have to come to an agreement on direct strategic cooperation in this sphere with them,” the president stressed.
