Opinions & Interviews

Belarus’ Hi-Tech Park hails active dialogue between IT community, parliament

Vsevolod Yanchevsky

MINSK, 31 January (BelTA) – The Belarusian IT community and the parliament are engaged in an active and creative dialogue, aiming to stay ahead of global legislative innovations, Director of Belarus’ Hi-Tech Park Vsevolod Yanchevsky told journalists on 31 January, BelTA has learned.

The IT community and the parliament are engaged in a good, active, and creative dialogue, aiming not only to keep up but also to stay ahead of global legislative innovations in the field of advanced technology, Vsevolod Yanchevsky noted. He thanked the Belarusian MPs for their interest in and support of the IT sector.

In the modern world, everything that is up-to-date now, especially in the technology sector, needs to bee updated in one to three years. “The law-making process has become a constant search for something new, for changes, sometimes significant ones,” Vsevolod Yanchevsky added.

In 2017, the Belarusian president signed a decree on digital economy development. “Thanks to certain decisions of the head of state, Belarus has become a pioneer (not just in the region, but in the whole world) in legislation in the field of IT and advanced technology,” Vsevolod Yanchevsky said.

In turn, Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly Valery Mitskevich noted that the decree was a groundbreaking document at the time. The norms laid down in the decree are being incorporated in laws. For example, the parliament is currently considering the bill on personal data. “Any technology can be both useful and harmful. We should facilitate beneficial development and minimize any harmful effects,” Valery Mitskevich said. Speaking about parliamentary support to introduction of IT at state-owned enterprises, he pointed out that in this regard the public sector does not fall behind the private sector. “It depends on needs, desires, and intentions of enterprises and their top managers. Technologies make the manufacturing process faster and cheaper, this is why all top managers should aim to introduce them at their enterprises,” he believes. “If legislation is needed to stimulate this process, we could discuss this. We will consider any relevant ideas,” Valery Mitskevich added.

The Hi-Tech Park is hosting a roundtable on the development of the IT sector and prospects of digitization of the Belarusian financial sector. Taking part in the roundtable are MPs, representatives of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus and the Belarusian Finance Ministry. Chair of the Budget and Finance Commission at the House of Representatives Lyudmila Nizhevich pointed out that the financial sector is the first to embrace all global and national high technologies. “When technologies are actively introduced in the financial sector, it prompts all other sectors to embrace the novelties as well. This process needs to be guided, including with the help of legislation,” she believes. Lyudmila Nizhevich said that it is important for the country and the community to find a way to introduce this high-tech mechanism in the real sector of the economy.

Belarus is implementing a program to digitize the economy. During this process, the country comes across various issues that concern regulation, taxes, information protection, the banking sector, and other financial fields. Some issues have not been addressed yet, this is why we are still unable to ensure safety and promote development of certain technologies as well as protect the financial sector and the population from cyberattacks, Lyudmila Nizhevich said.

“We need to consider these issues in detail and back the solutions with appropriate legislation. Law and business should be in step,” she added and called to discuss all issues that should be solved in the near future and in the long-term perspective.

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