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Uzbekistan, WB to connect Central Asian countries to high-speed Internet

ICT Materials 21 July 2018 11:08 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, July 21

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Uzbekistan and the World Bank will start implementation of the CASA Digital project in 2019, aimed at expanding access to high speed Internet for landlocked countries of Central Asia and some regions of South Asia, Podrobno.uz reported.

The program aims at the regional level to connect these countries to interregional and intercontinental data infrastructure, which will allow for improving cross-border cooperation.

The aim of the program at the national level is to provide people with access to a reliable and affordable Internet, attract private investment in the ICT sector, and increase the capacity of government agencies to provide e-government services to citizens and businesses.

The projects in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan in the framework of Digital CASA program have been approved by the World Bank Board of Directors in March 2018. Uzbekistan is currently preparing for the launch of the project, and its implementation should begin in 2019. The participation of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and other countries in the program will be possible in the future.

A seminar on the development of the digital economy in the country was held at the World Bank Office in Tashkent as part of the preparations for the launch of the Digital CASA project in Uzbekistan.

The seminar was attended by representatives of the Ministry for the Development of Information Technologies and Communications, other interested ministries and agencies, leading international experts and specialists of the World Bank.

The participants discussed the world experience in building a digital economy, the existing opportunities for the development of infrastructure, legal, regulatory and institutional framework for such an economy in Uzbekistan, as well as the socio-economic benefits that it can bring to the state, citizens and business.

Leading international experts from the European Union, Russia, Kazakhstan, the UK and the World Economic Forum presented examples of best practices in the field of digital transformation of the economy and e-government development.

Participants discussed the methodology for assessing the status of the digital economy, which had been elaborated with the purpose of consulting the states interested in creating appropriate conditions for development of the digital economy. The methodology was presented by the World Bank specialists as a possible tool for the preparation of a Strategy for the development of the digital economy in Uzbekistan.

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