Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 29 December (BelTA) – With the Digital Economy Development Ordinance in effect, Belarus will become a Singapore-like country in the IT sphere, BelTA learned from Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich.

The head of the upper chamber of the Belarusian parliament said: “Singapore plays a huge role in global finance. With the Digital Economy Development Ordinance signed, Belarus will become a country like Singapore but in the IT sphere. The Digital Economy Development Ordinance has enabled unprecedented conditions for the development of the IT industry, for the arrival of the world’s largest corporations. We expect to inspire solid trust in our potential partners and look forward to a significant increase in their interest in working in Belarus.”

Mikhail Myasnikovich believes that the Digital Economy Development Ordinance and the Entrepreneurship Development Ordinance will have a tangible effect on the Belarusian economy and on every Belarusian. “The expansion of the spectrum and volume of services in the IT sphere will bring additional foreign currency revenues as well as new highly intellectual jobs with a high added value. It will encourage the development of the sphere of services with low material and energy intensity,” noted the chairman of the Council of the Republic.

Digital technologies will penetrate every part of life in Belarus: the manufacturing sector, banking, healthcare, education, science, and other ones. “Blockchain is the buzzword these days. The technology may be introduced in the legislative process in the medium term. Initially it may be used to automatically analyze the legislation and rule out regulations with the same effect. Later on it may even automate the implementation of laws. These approaches are now being actively discussed not only in Belarus, but also in other countries, for instance, Russia. I am talking about the implementation of laws without human interference. It can be done automatically using smart cards and other smart contracts. All of that will considerably simplify work with laws. It will make the process open and transparent. The human factor, all kinds of abuse will be minimized. For now it is only an idea, which needs serious work without sliding into wishful thinking. There is a lot of task-oriented work ahead of us. Most of it is unknown as of yet,” stressed Mikhail Myasnikovich.