Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 8 February (BelTA) – Belarus wants to gain the status of an IT regional leader, Belarus’ Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said in an interview to the Russian newspaper Izvestia, BelTA has learned.

According to the minister, Belarus wants to build an IT-country in order to make maximum use of the opportunities of the economic digital transformation, and acquire the status of a regional leader in the IT sector. “We have set this task as a priority,” he stressed.

"We are creating not even greenhouse, but in many respects unprecedented conditions and incentives in order to give maximum acceleration to the development of the IT sector, and the digitalization of the entire economy and the country in general. I am confident that further dynamic development of the Hi-Tech Park and start-ups in Belarus will not take long to produce results,” Vladimir Makei said.

Commenting on the recently signed decree on the development of the digital economy, which also includes the area of cryptocurrencies, the minister of foreign affairs noted that “it is not Minsk that enters the bitcoin market”. “This is the bitcoin, blockchain and mining that come to us. Here, we prioritize not the cryptocurrency, but an intention to enter new technological horizons,” he said.

Belarus, like other countries, faces the challenges of the digital age. “We want and are ready to integrate new technologies into the national economy as soon as possible. We have a chance to become pioneers in the development of legal innovations in a number of developing and promising technological segments. We are determined to make the use of it, including with a view to attracting prospective businesses to the Belarusian jurisdiction,” Vladimir Makei said.

Belarus does not set any political super-tasks or any geopolitical goals. “It is objective if we take into account the size of our state and the Belarusian economy. We have spoken about it many times. However, there is a number of practical economic interests, which I have already mentioned,” the minister said.

He added that today many people associate blockchain technology primarily with the cryptocurrency. “However, there is an opinion and, probably, it is not unreasonable that distributed databases, taking into account their characteristics, will find application not only in the financial and banking sector but also in other areas such as insurance, healthcare, logistics, and, possibly, public administration. We are not limited here to blockchain only,” the minister said.

Vladimir Makei stated that Belarus has already done a lot to become known among all those who are engaged in the development of artificial intelligence, cloud technologies, large databases. New technologies are of interest to Belarus in terms of attracting talented people, successful companies and international corporations.