Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Against the backdrop of the ongoing recession in the global economy associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions in the world, as well as food and energy crises, states see a way out of this situation in building up "digital immunity".

Thanks to digital industrialization – advanced technologies, big data, artificial intelligence and 5G – the digital economy is becoming an important driver of economic growth.

According to UNIDO estimates, in 2021 the share of the digital economy in global GDP was about 15.5%. It is predicted that in the medium term the level of digitalization of the global economy will exceed 40%. Already today, almost 60% of internet users of working age make online purchases every week.

According to UNCTAD experts, the global digital trade market will amount to US$29 trillion by 2030. 

At the same time, there is a steady increase in the coverage of the world’s population with the Internet. Thus, over the past 10 years, the number of users has more than doubled from 2.18 billion at the beginning of 2012 to 5 billion in the first half of 2022 (63.1% of the world’s population). Research shows that on average each user spends almost 7 hours a day on the Internet.

Against this background, one of the main messages of the article by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, published on the eve of the Samarkand SCO summit, was the argument that the Organization has excellent prospects for transformation and growth, not only through quantitative replenishment, but also through the opening of new strategic vectors. These are transport and connectivity, energy, food and environmental security, innovation, digital transformation and green economy.”

Indeed, all the necessary conditions have been created in the SCO space for digital transformation and the development of the digital economy, including the organizational, legal and institutional framework.

Let us take, for example, the Program of Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation of the SCO Member States until 2035, adopted in Tashkent in 2019, with an emphasis on high technologies.

Then, in 2020, the Statement of the Council of Heads of States of the SCO Member States on cooperation in the field of the digital economy was adopted, which clearly expressed interest in cooperating in the field of digitalization through the introduction of information and communication technologies in such areas as industry, transport, agriculture, healthcare, education, tourism, energy, trade, finance and customs.

In addition, the Concept of Cooperation of the SCO Member States in the field of digitalization and information and communication technologies was approved, a number of documents on the development of the digital economy were adopted.

Experts noticed the emerging trend: if in previous years within the framework of the SCO, the Uzbek side was active mainly in the field of security, today it is actively putting forward qualitatively new and practical initiatives in the field of economic development, including digital and green ones.

For example, within the framework of the SCO, the Uzbek side has put forward a number of initiatives, including the Concept of interaction in the field of "smart" agriculture and the introduction of agro-innovations, the Program for the development of digital literacy, the Joint Action Plan for the development of intra-regional trade of the SCO, as well as the mechanism for regular meetings of heads of departments responsible for information technology, the regular holding of the Economic Forum, which are being implemented in the SCO space.

In addition, the member countries of the Organization have a huge potential and experience, as well as sufficient opportunities for developing cooperation in the field of digital transformation of various sectors of the economy.

In this context, the experience of China is of particular interest. In 2021, the scale of the digital economy of the People’s Republic of China reached US$7.1 trillion, ranking second in the world. The digital economy of the Middle Kingdom grew by an average of 15.9 percent from 2012 to 2021. During this period, the share of the digital economy in the country’s GDP increased from 20.9 percent to 39.8 percent, recording an average annual increase of about 2.1 percentage points.

The rapid growth is accompanied by the expansion of the construction of digital infrastructure. To date, the number of 5G base stations in China amounted to 1.43 million, and the number of 5G users exceeded 500 million people. China has some of the largest and most advanced network facilities in the world. In addition, the country has also accelerated the integration of big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence. By 2025, China will account for almost 30 percent of the world’s total data, with the largest variety of data types.

India is not far behind in this regard. For example, in 2015, the government launched the Digital India initiative to improve online infrastructure and make the Internet more accessible. The initiative has three main goals: creating a secure and stable digital infrastructure, providing digital services, and providing every citizen with the Internet.

According to experts, if by the end of 2021 the volume of India’s digital economy amounted to US$200 billion, then by 2025 this figure will reach US$1 trillion through the development of the manufacturing sector based on artificial intelligence, cloud computing, the Internet of things, blockchain and robotics.

In turn, Uzbekistan, in the period from 2015 to 2020, increased the volume of gross value added created in the sector of the information economy and e-commerce by almost 3 times - from 3.8 trillion up to 11.2 trillion soums, its share in GDP was 2 percent. In addition, the volume of market services in the field of communications and informatization in 2021 reached 17.1 trillion soums, which is almost 3 times higher than in 2016 (6.1 trillion soums)

Considering that 2020 in Uzbekistan was designated as the Year of the Development of Science, Education and the Digital Economy, fundamental documents were adopted in the country that laid the legal foundation for further reforms. To accelerate the development of the digital economy, the Strategy "Digital Uzbekistan - 2030" was approved. Its priorities are digital infrastructure, e-government, digital industry and digital education.

As a result, thanks to the consistent work on the development of digital infrastructure, the capacity of the international communication channel in the country in 2016-2022. increased 32 times to 1800 Gbps. A project is currently underway to expand this to 3200 Gbps in 2022. The cost of Internet services for operators and providers amounted to 30,000 soums per 1 Mbps, which is 42.9 percent less than in the same period last year.

In addition, in the Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026 adopted this year, one of the key goals is to identify the digital economy as one of the main “drivers” of growth and increase its volume by at least 2.5 times.

Summing up the above, it should be noted that digital transformation is the call of the times, and every member of the SCO understands this very well. Therefore, a logical continuation of the work to enhance the practical cooperation of the "Shanghai family" in the field of digitalization was the initiative of Uzbekistan, announced at the Samarkand summit, to hold the Great Trade Fair annually with the creation of a single electronic platform on its basis.

The implementation of this initiative will help establish new contacts and intensify multilateral cooperation in the field of trade, as well as facilitate access to new international markets.

In addition, this will allow to combine suppliers and consumers of various goods and services on one electronic trading platform, provide these participants with a number of services, which, of course, will increase the efficiency of their business.

Moreover, it will contribute to a significant increase in the speed of business operations, by minimizing the distance and time, including reducing the time and effort of business entities searching for new partners and markets.

In general, the significance of this initiative, according to experts, is greater than ever, since all SCO member countries are in difficult conditions during the period of economic recovery from the consequences of crises.

Alisher Nizamov, Head of Department, Institute for Strategic and Regional Studies under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan