Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- A briefing was held at the Agency for Information and Mass Communications under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan on a critical analysis of the results on the development of IT technologies, telecommunications and innovation in 2020 and priority tasks in 2021.

The briefing was attended by the Minister for the Development of Information Technologies and Communications Sh. Sadikov, who presented information on the work carried out to develop the ICT sphere in 2020 and on the priority tasks in 2021.

It should be noted that in the field of ICT in 2020, a large-scale and comprehensive work was done to introduce IT technologies in public administration and in the real sector of the economy, to further develop the telecommunications infrastructure, and in other areas.

It is also noteworthy that during this period, in order to develop the ICT industry, a number of regulatory documents were adopted by the President and the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the further development of the digital economy and e-government, the implementation of the Digital Uzbekistan 2030 Strategy and the Digital Tashkent”, reforming the postal sector, improving the system for training IT personnel, increasing the number of electronic government services provided.

In the course of the development of the digital economy and e-government:

In accordance with the Strategy "Digital Uzbekistan - 2030", over the next three years, the implementation of 1,627 projects on digital transformation of regions and industries has been determined;

With the aim of widespread introduction of the digital economy and e-government in 2020-2022, it is planned to implement more than 260 projects in 42 ministries and departments;

During the implementation of the "Digital Tashkent" program, it is planned to develop and integrate more than 30 information programs;

The introduction of IT-technologies in the medical field, in particular, the introduction of the "Unified Ambulance" system made it possible to halve the time for citizens to apply;

In addition, the Electronic Polyclinic system was introduced in 88 multidisciplinary and family polyclinics in the city of Tashkent.

More than 50 services were introduced into the system of the Single portal of interactive state services, and thus, today the population is provided with a total of 218 state services.

The Unified User Identification System was modernized and implemented, to which over 621 thousand people are connected.

Particular attention was paid to the development of IT entrepreneurship and the provision of youth employment.

In each region, through the organization of Digital Technologies Training Centers, work has been established to educate the population, especially young people, the basics of programming, to create websites and mobile applications.

For this purpose, IT Park branches were opened last year in five regions: Andijan, Ferghana, Syrdarya, Jizzakh and Samarkand regions, where more than 400 enterprises operate. In a short time they have developed over 900 software.

Also, as part of the implementation of the third direction of the Five Initiatives put forward by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, 107 Digital Technology Training Centers were organized and over 200 jobs were created.

During the development of the digital economy and e-government, important attention is paid to the development of digital infrastructure. In particular, 1 million broadband Internet access ports were installed, bringing the total to 3 million;

32 thousand kilometers of fiber-optic communication lines were laid;

3 thousand base stations were modernized based on broadband technologies;

a 5 petabyte data center launched;

As a result of the increase in technical capacities, the rental rates for communication channels have decreased by half since December last year, the rate for Internet services has fallen in price by 29 percent and today is 40,000 soums per 1 Mbps.

Also, 14 thousand fiber-optic communication lines were laid to social facilities, and as a result 8 095 secondary schools, 5 440 preschool educational institutions and 3 207 healthcare facilities were provided with high-speed Internet connection.

In addition, 5,641 mobile base stations have been put into operation.

Only in the 4th quarter of last year, 14 basic specialized schools with in-depth study of computer science and information technologies were created in the republic.

Within the framework of the “One Million Programmers” project, over 120 thousand students were trained, of whom 18 thousand successfully completed the courses.

In the Address of the Head of State to the Parliament and the people of Uzbekistan dated December 29, 2020, priority tasks were identified for the further development of the ICT sphere in 2021. And in this context, the main focus will be on the implementation of reforms in the ICT sector on a systematic basis, the development of the digital economy, e-government and training for the ICT industry. In particular:

The unified portal of interactive state services and its mobile version will be improved;

Measures will be taken to ensure the openness of the activities of state bodies and the transparency of the processes of interaction with citizens;

60 topical services will be introduced into the EPIGU system;

The electronic system "E-qaror" will be introduced in the local executive authorities;

The infrastructure and platform of the Open Data Portal will be modernized, its capabilities will be expanded;

In all higher educational institutions, incubation centers will be organized to support business projects of start-up entrepreneurs;

About 50 thousand kilometers of fiber-optic communication lines will be built. And here the main focus will be on rural settlements and social infrastructure facilities in remote areas;

Together with other ministries, work will be carried out to connect all social facilities to the Internet.

An additional 2,000 base stations will be installed by mobile operators.

Also, in order to develop IT entrepreneurship in the regions and create new jobs in cooperation with local authorities, IT Park branches will be opened in Nukus, Urgench, Namangan, Karshi, Termez and Tashkent.

By the end of the year, about 100 Digital Technology Training Centers will be opened in all districts and cities of the republic.

In order to further develop IT education, a branch of the Tashkent University of Information Technologies will be organized in the Tashkent region, and technical schools for training personnel in the field of information technologies will be created in the regions.

On the basis of secondary schools, 82 specialized schools with in-depth study of computer science and information technologies will be created.

The provision of public services will be established in the postal system, comprehensive measures will be implemented to include the country in the first 50 positions of the Global Postal Development Index rating.