Rumas: IT sector is a national priority for Belarus's development

The IT sector is a national development priority for Belarus, stated the Prime Minister of Belarus, Sergey Румас, today at the plenary session of the forum "Digital Future of the Global Economy" in Almaty, according to a BELTA correspondent. "Setting ourselves the ambitious goal of creating an IT country, we have accepted the challenge of restructuring the economy, moving it onto digital rails," said Sergey Румас. "Having defined the IT sector as a national development priority, the state has created the necessary starting conditions. Belarus has established a developed data transmission, storage, and processing infrastructure that meets global standards, identification mechanisms, and modern information security measures."

One of the key projects in this area has been the creation of the Republican Data Processing Centre. "To date, the centre is certified according to international standards and ensures the highest level of security and fault tolerance. Already, more than 400 government bodies and organisations have phased in the use of the republican data processing centre and cloud platform services," noted the Prime Minister.

Sergey Румас named the software and hardware complex for accounting tax invoices among the projects already implemented in Belarus. This has enabled the introduction of electronic invoices nationwide to replace paper ones and the creation of a state system for their processing, storage, transmission, and reception using technical and software tools. A unified automated system for electronic prescriptions has been introduced for the Ministry of Health. This solution provides unified secure access to the Ministry of Health's databases from anywhere in Belarus, which will reduce costs and accelerate the implementation of IT in healthcare. The interdepartmental electronic document management system for government bodies has enabled the exchange of electronic messages between all government bodies and organisations on a unified platform.

"It should be noted that the implementation of electronic document management on a national scale is a unique experience, and we are among the leaders here," the Prime Minister emphasized. "One of the most important projects we are working on today is the creation of a national integrated reference and settlement system. This is a key stage of digital transformation that will allow us to start issuing biometric passports (ID cards and electronic passports) and will ensure free access to e-government services 24/7."

Sergey Rumas specifically highlighted the successes of the High-Tech Park. "Our results and achievements in the IT sector cannot yet be compared with global leaders. But we have also achieved success in some areas. Our High-Tech Park, created thanks to the personal support of the Head of State, has become a regional center of attraction for the best talents and minds in Eastern Europe. This is the fastest-growing sector of the Belarusian economy - exports at the end of last year amounted to $2 billion. Although three years ago, it did not exceed a quarter of this amount. Over the past two years, the number of residents has grown and is now approaching 800. This inspires optimism for the future," he added.

Prime Minister of Belarus Sergey Rumas is on a working visit to Kazakhstan on January 30-31. The head of the Belarusian government will also take part in the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting in Almaty today.

Belarus has been presiding over the bodies of the Eurasian Economic Union since January 1.