On July 1 this year, the President of Uzbekistan watched a presentation of plans in the field of digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and telecommunications.
The number of residents of the IT park of Uzbekistan has exceeded 2800, and the number of foreign companies has reached 752. About 40 thousand young people earn high incomes in this area.
Over the past 5 years, the industry’s exports have grown from $170 million to almost $1 billion.
In 2024, startups attracted $70 million in venture capital investment.
As a result, Uzbekistan has risen 12 positions and entered the top 100 of the global ranking of startup ecosystems. The country also moved up 17 positions in the international AI readiness index, ranking first in Central Asia.
Uzbekistan topped the ranking of CIS countries in terms of the growth rate of the telecommunications industry.
Work in this area is ongoing. In particular, the following goals are set for the next year:
As part of the implementation of these goals, a number of draft regulatory documents have been developed and discussed during the presentation.
To date, 760 types of public services have been digitized. Last year, 10 million citizens used digital services.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted that it is time to move on to the next stage – building a Digital Government. First of all, digitalization should cover the most popular areas: education, healthcare, construction, and utilities.
Special attention was paid to the development of artificial intelligence technologies. According to the Presidential Decree of October 14, 2024, the AI development strategy until 2030 was approved. USD 50 million has been allocated for the development of infrastructure in this area.
The goal is to create a national model of artificial intelligence and train 1 million specialists.
The Minister of Digital Technologies reported on the current stages of this task and measures to improve the infrastructure.
Expanding the scope of digital services and export potential remains a priority. So far, the main indicators are concentrated in Tashkent, but thanks to the conditions and benefits created in the country, interest from foreign specialists and companies is growing.
In this context, the President emphasized the importance of creating an attractive environment in each region in order to more actively attract foreign IT companies and stimulate the development of the digital economy throughout the country.
