Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 18 April (BelTA) – Belarus is capable of preserving its leadership in the region as far as the development of information and communication technologies is concerned, BelTA learned from Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union Houlin Zhao on 18 April.

The ITU secretary general said: “Belarus is ranked 31^st among 170 countries in the development of information and communication technologies. It is a very good result. Apart from that, your country is the CIS leader in the development of information and communication technologies. If Belarus continues developing this area, it has every chance of preserving its leadership in the region.”

The ITU secretary general pointed out that all countries in the region are busy developing information and communication technologies, this is why Belarus has to keep up the pace. “It is important that Belarus prioritizes the development of information and communication technologies. We have to accomplish a lot together although you already have something to show, in particular, how information and communication technologies are used here to invigorate social and economic development,” concluded the secretary general of the International Telecommunication Union.

Houlin Zhao said he had already seen the TIBO 2017 expo, the digital government project, the stand of the Belarusian telecommunication infrastructure operator beCloud. He said he had learned about the development of 3G and 4G technologies in Belarus and prospects of the 5G technology. He had also sawn the stand dedicated to artificial intelligence. “I can assure you that this expo represents state-of-the-art information and communication technology services. No global technology is left unnoticed,” he remarked.

The forum on telecommunication, information and banking technologies TIBO has been held since 1994. It is one of the largest exhibition events in the CIS and Baltic states. Every year it attracts the attention of leading Belarusian and foreign manufacturers and vendors of telecommunication equipment, computers and software, security systems and solutions, various ICT services. In 2016 over 100 companies from 18 countries participated in the event: Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Czechia, Germany, Finland, Sweden, the UK, Turkey, China, Korea, Japan, and the USA.