Business news

MINSK, 24 May (BelTA) – Director of Belarus’ Hi-Tech Park Vsevolod Yanchevsky and Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, head of Uber’s operations in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), have signed a cooperation agreement, BelTA has learned. Key aspects of the agreement include opening Uber’s R&D center in the Hi-Tech Park and joint work on driverless transport.

The head of Uber’s EMEA division noted: “We are very satisfied with results of negotiations with Prime Minister of Belarus Mr Kobyakov and Director of the Hi-Tech Park Mr Yanchevsky. We know that Belarus President Mr Lukashenko pays close attention to the development of high technologies. It is a good sign for us and other international companies. Today Uber and the Hi-Tech Park signed an agreement on cooperation in a number of avenues. It is my first visit to Belarus but I think I will have many reasons to come here often.”

Vsevolod Yanchevsky noted: “Those, who say that the world is on the threshold of a transport revolution, are not entirely correct. The world has crossed the threshold already. And Belarus should be at the forefront of these changes. It is what our cooperation is all about with Uber and other internationally recognized companies, which technologies change the world as we speak. It is this kind of cooperation that gives a chance for Belarus to become one of the world’s first countries where the first driverless cars will become available.”

Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov also met with a delegation of Uber’s top managers on 24 May. During the meeting the sides discussed results of Uber’s operation in Belarus, possibilities for enabling conditions for transporting more passengers using the Uber app and similar digital platforms.

Uber Company was established in 2009. Today it is the world’s largest service for organizing passenger transportation using smartphone applications. Uber works in over 570 cities in 78 countries. The company demonstrates explosive growth. Over the last five years people used Uber to make 1 billion trips. Nearly 5 billion trips were registered in January-May 2017. Uber’s market capitalization stands at $68 billion.