Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The IT sphere is a dynamically developing industry, where various changes constantly occur due to the emergence of new, more advanced technologies. And in this regard, it is very important to study advanced international experience, cooperate with leading companies and leading countries in the field of ICT.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in his speeches repeatedly noted the importance of establishing long-term and multilateral relations with the CIS countries, with which we are united by geographical proximity, historical and cultural commonality.

In this regard, the Ministry for the Development of Information Technologies and Communications is carrying out large-scale work aimed at establishing fruitful relations with partners from neighboring countries.

Today, Uzbekistan’s cooperation with the CIS countries in the field of ICT is carried out primarily within the framework of international and regional organizations in the field of ICT, such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Universal Postal Union (UPU), and the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications (RCC).

Fruitful work is being carried out within the ITU: the department regularly organizes various distance training courses for specialists from the member countries of the organization, and also provides technical assistance to Uzbekistan on a wide range of projects.

Thus, with the assistance of ITU, a regional project is being implemented to improve the qualifications of women in the ICT field. And the leading role is assigned to the Tashkent University of Information Technologies named after Muhammad al-Khorazmiy, which will become an educational hub for widespread education and training of girls and women, expanding their ICT skills.

Important projects implemented jointly with ITU include a project to connect schools to the Internet within the framework of the Giga initiative jointly with UNICEF, the introduction of an “inclusive education system - teaching children with disabilities using ICTs,” and others.

Cooperation has been established with the CIS countries within the framework of the UPU on the transit of postal correspondence and parcels, exchange of experience. A number of important projects have been implemented in cooperation with the UPU: the introduction of a barcode system in the branch of international postal services of JSC "Uzbekiston Pochtasi", the creation of an automated surveillance system, measures to improve the quality and efficiency of the postal services provided within the republic.

Great prospects for cooperation between Uzbekistan and the CIS countries are opening up with the implementation of a project to develop an electronic payment system in Central Asia. With the assistance of the UPU, the equipment was modernized, a modern system of international payment systems was introduced.

The positions of Uzbekistan are being strengthened within the framework of the RCC, an international regional organization of the CIS member countries, aimed at cooperation in the field of telecommunications, postal communications, informatization in order to provide and protect regional interests, participate in the leading industry events of the ITU and UPU. Thus, the next meeting of the Coordinating Council of the CIS Member States on Informatization under the RCC will be held at the end of this year in Tashkent. Within the framework of the event, topical issues of further development of partnerships between participants in the field of ICT will be considered.

One of the most important areas of IT cooperation within the CIS is regional and national security issues. This becomes especially relevant during the period of global crisis situations, a striking example of which is the COVID-19 pandemic. Against the background of an increase in the frequency of cyberattacks on global and national infrastructures, the issues of ensuring information protection and countering modern threats using modern ICTs are acquiring national importance.

In this regard, important conceptual documents have been adopted aimed at coordinating actions and measures between the CIS countries in this direction.

Among them, one can note the Strategy for ensuring information security of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States for the period up to 2030, approved on 29 October 2019 in Moscow.

In March 2021, the third meeting of the Expert Group was held to agree on the draft Plan of priority measures for the implementation of the Strategy with the introduction of comments and proposals from the CIS member states. This document reflects organizational measures aimed at harmonizing the legislation of the participating countries in the field of ICT, modernizing the existing ICT infrastructure, training highly qualified IT personnel. The organization and holding of the annual CIS International Expert Forum and other events on information security issues have also been agreed.

A serious impetus to the further development of regional cooperation in the field of ICT is given by the Agreement on information interaction of the CIS member states in the field of digital development of society, signed as a result of videoconferencing between the heads of government of the CIS countries on 6 November 2020. According to the document, an agreed approach is being implemented to the organization of information interaction between the parties in terms of the development and implementation of state policy in the field of digital development of society.

The issues of ensuring regional information security were among the priorities on the agenda of the Council of Heads of State of the CIS Member States, held on 18 December 2020 under the chairmanship of Uzbekistan. At the end of the summit, a joint statement was made by the heads of state of the Commonwealth of Independent States on cooperation in the field of ensuring international information security.

As noted in the statement, the heads of states, in order to ensure national and international interests, are in favor of increasing the level of interstate cooperation aimed at preventing and peaceful settlement of conflicts that may arise as a result of the illegal and destructive use of information and communication technologies. They also confirm the aspiration of states to further cooperation within the CIS in the field of information security on the basis of previously adopted documents.

In addition to cooperation with the CIS countries within the framework of international organizations, dialogue is also actively developing in an intercountry format, on the basis of intergovernmental and interdepartmental agreements. Leading companies and organizations of the CIS countries take an integrated part in ICT reforms carried out in the country - in the field of education, modernization of telecommunications infrastructure, creation of an electronic government system and others.

Among the strategic country partners in the field of ICT, the Republic of Belarus can be noted. Currently, bilateral cooperation with this country in the field of digital technologies is carried out on the basis of a number of intergovernmental and interdepartmental agreements. Thus, within the framework of cooperation in the field of telecommunications, JSC "O’ORORORbektelekom" and the Republican Unitary Enterprise "Beltelecom" provide mutual services of international telephone and telegraph communication. Air and ground postal exchange has been organized, including the exchange of postal money orders.

Among the priority areas are interaction and exchange of experience in the development of IT entrepreneurship and start-up movement. So, since 2017, cooperation and exchange of experience have been established with the Belarusian High Technologies Park. The experience of Belarus was studied and used in the creation and development of the Technological Park of software products and information technologies (IT Park). A number of leading Belarusian IT companies, such as EPAM Systems, SoftClub, Exadel, also have representative offices in Uzbekistan and are residents of IT Park.

Fruitful work is being carried out within the framework of joint training of specialists in the field of ICT. Thus, as a result of the state visit of the President of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Uzbekistan in September 2018, an agreement was signed between the Tashkent University of Information Technologies named after Muhammad al-Khorazmiy and the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics on the establishment (BSUIR) on the basis of TUIT of a joint faculty of information technologies for the preparation highly qualified IT specialists.

Today, 361 first-year students study at the joint faculty, and 484 students in the second in three areas: "Information Technology Software", "Programmable Mobile Systems" and "Artificial Intelligence". Education at the faculty is carried out on the basis of the "2 + 2" model: the first 2 years of study take place at TUIT and its regional branches, and the next 2 years at BSUIR. After graduation, graduates of the joint faculty will receive two diplomas from both universities.

One of the promising areas is cooperation in the field of e-government. So, since the beginning of this year, specialists from the Center for Project Management of Electronic Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the National Center for Electronic Services of the Republic of Belarus have held a number of online meetings. During the conversations, directions for mutual cooperation in the field of e-government were discussed.

In order to expand cooperation, the Minifokom delegation took part in the XXVII International Forum on Information and Communication Technologies "TIBO-2021". During the forum, business meetings were held with the participation of heads of state bodies, universities, leading Belarusian IT companies, a presentation on digital reforms in Uzbekistan was held.

International relations with Kazakhstan in the field of ICT are being consistently strengthened. Today Uzbekistan closely cooperates with Kazakhstan on a number of issues in the field of telecommunications, postal and radio communications.

Within the framework of the next joint meeting of the Council of Heads of Communications Administrations of the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications (RCC) and the Coordination Council of the CIS Member States for Informatization under the RCC, held in Nur-Sultan in September 2019, ICT Minister Sh.Sadikov made a report, as well as held negotiations with representatives of the participating countries to further expand mutually beneficial cooperation.

The participation of the Mininfocom delegation in the Digital Almaty 2020 forum was also productive, during which representatives from Uzbekistan visited the Kazakhstani Innovative Technologies Park and concluded a memorandum of cooperation between the Kazakhstani Technopark and IT Park. Also today, the issue of establishing cooperation with the International Technological Park "Astana Hub" is being worked out as part of the joint development of the startup ecosystem. The possibility of launching a joint program for mutual access of resident companies to the services and infrastructure of both parties is being considered.

This year, the delegation of the Ministry of ICT traditionally took part in the Digital Almaty 2021 forum. A meeting with the First Vice-Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan A. Akhmetjanov was held at the site of the Digital Almaty Forum. During the meeting, issues of further expanding bilateral cooperation in the field of e-government and digital economy were discussed.

Further negotiations between the parties continued during bilateral online meetings, as well as the visit of the delegation of the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan in May this year.

Among the strategic partners from the near abroad is Russia. Currently, bilateral cooperation with the Russian Federation in the field of communications and informatization is carried out on the basis of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Government of the Russian Federation on cooperation in the field of communications (on 11 October 1998) and the Agreement between the Uzbek Agency for Communications and Informatization and the Ministry of Information Technologies and communications of the Russian Federation on cooperation in the field of information technology, postal communications and telecommunications (on 22 May 2006).

Thus, in the field of telecommunications, fruitful partnership relations have developed between O’zbektelekom and the leading Russian mobile operators - PJSC Rostelecom, PJSC VimpelCom, OJSC MTT, PJSC Megafon and others, in the field of postal communication - between JSC "Uzbekiston Pochtasi" and FSUE "Russian Post".

As part of the visit of the delegation of the Republic of Uzbekistan as part of the Mininfocom and the Ministry of Innovations to the Russian Federation, partnerships were concluded with the Association of Clusters and Technoparks of Russia, the Skolkovo IT cluster and the IT Park in Kazan, as well as with the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation on the implementation of joint ICT projects, attracting Russian venture capital investors to participate in IT-Park start-up projects, training and advanced training of personnel.

As part of these agreements, representatives of IT-Park, together with participants in the acceleration program of the technopark, took courses "Softlanding in Skolkovo" at the Skolkovo business school, where they received valuable knowledge thanks to experienced mentors, an idea of the innovative potential and the IT market of the largest CIS economy. got acquainted with the conditions of residence in the Skolkovo innovation center. Also, as part of the course, domestic startups presented their projects.

Interest in the IT market of Uzbekistan from Russian investors is growing every year. In this regard, we can note the broad expansion of the Russian search giant Yandex into the domestic market, which today offers a wide range of online services adapted to the local consumer - Yandex.Metro, Yandex.Plus, Yandex.Taxi, Yandex. Mahalla ”nd many others. The popular social network Odnoklassniki, which cooperates with the national payment system UzCard, is also expanding its presence in the local market.

Among the large IT companies operating in Uzbekistan, one should especially note the Russian company Selectel, a provider of cloud services and data center services, included in the Top 100 largest IT companies in Russia and in the top five cloud infrastructure providers. It was our republic that was chosen as the first foreign country where Selectel servers were localized. It is also noteworthy that the Russian company became one of the residents of IT-Park. According to the plans, within three years Selectel intends to invest up to one million dollars in the development of the new market. Since June this year, the Russian company has launched its data center in Tashkent.

In the field of training in the field of ICT, the Tashkent University of Information Technologies named after Muhammad al-Khwarizmi closely cooperates with a number of specialized higher educational institutions of Russia. In particular, in October 2018, at the first Uzbek-Russian educational forum, TUIT entered into agreements on cooperation in the field of science, education and technology with the St. Petersburg State University of Telecommunications named after M.A. Bonch-Bruevich, Novosibirsk, Don and Tambov State Technical Universities.

Special mention should be made of the contribution of the St. Petersburg State University of Telecommunications named after prof. M.A. Bonch-Bruyevich in training IT specialists for the domestic market. Thus, in accordance with the agreement between the subordinate enterprises of the Ministry of ICT and the St. Petersburg university, students from Uzbekistan have been trained in undergraduate and graduate programs at St. Petersburg State University of Technology, their further involvement in industrial and scientific work in domestic companies and organizations.

The development of partnership relations between Uzbekistan and with other CIS countries is very promising. Today, cooperation with them is carried out within the framework of telecommunications and postal interaction.

In addition, the Ministry of ICT is actively cooperating with other CIS countries within the framework of the International Telecommunication Union, the Regional Commonwealth in the field of communications in the development of consolidated proposals, contributions and initiatives.

In today’s globalized world, digital collaboration is essential. And here, among the primary tasks is the convergence and digital integration of the countries of the region. Such close interaction will allow not only to jointly solve the strategic tasks of digital development, but also to successfully confront current challenges using the latest achievements of science and technology.

Oleg Pekos, First Deputy Minister for Development of Information Technologies and Communications of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

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