Ashgabat, 12-14 February 2020: The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan, as part of a joint project to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Turkmenistan, held a three-day workshop on the introduction of digital technologies and implementation of the concept of digitalization in the economic, financial and banking sectors.

The aim of the seminar was to discuss the existing procedures for the introduction of digital technologies and the implementation of digitalization in these sectors of the economy, as well as to identify difficulties and issues encountered, and ways to solve them.

“Digitalization is a critical element in the development of the modern economy. Digitalization or the digital transformation of the economy means introduction of information and communication technologies in all sectors in order to increase its efficiency and competitiveness. In this context, one of the directions of sustainable economic growth in Turkmenistan is the formation of an innovative high-tech digital economy. UNDP aims to provide the necessary knowledge and best practices in this area to support the implementation of national development priorities,” said Natia Natsvlishvili, UNDP Resident Representative a.i.

The seminar was attended by more than 50 representatives of financial, economic and banking institutions of Turkmenistan, including the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan, including the State Committee for Statistics of Turkmenistan, the State Agency "Turkmenaragatnashik" of the Ministry of Industry and Communications of Turkmenistan, the Main State Service "Turkmenstandartlary", the State Insurance Organization of Turkmenistan, Central Bank of Turkmenistan, State Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs and others.

Participants examined detailed examples of introduction of digital technologies of foreign countries in various sectors of the economy, such as medicine, education, housing and communal services, agriculture; discussed issues of international cyber security, the role of the state and public-private partnerships, as well as the possibility of using modern digital technologies for the socio-economic development of Turkmenistan.

Based on the results of the seminar, a final document was prepared that reflects main activities necessary for digitalizing the economic and financial sectors of Turkmenistan.

The seminar was conducted by Vladimir Korovkin, an international expert in the field of digital economy of the Moscow School of Management “Skolkovo”.