Armenian Prime Minister to IT sector representatives: "I need a program to turn the world upside- down"

ArmInfo. Armenian Prime Minister  Karen Karapetyan held a consultative meeting on the prospects of  development of information and telecommunication technologies. The  meeting was attended by ministers and representatives of IT  companies, the press office of the Armenian Government reports.

"Convinced that the IT sector is a major driving force behind the  economy, I am prepared to discuss with you any relevant issue,  including the educational system, higher education, training of  specialists, management mechanisms and so on," the Premier said as he  opened the consultation and went on to emphasize that he was looking  forward to getting the guests' understanding and proposals regarding  the steps aimed at developing the IT industry in Armenia.

The Head of Government was introduced to a number of ideas and  projects. In particular, the meeting discussed the possibility of  creating an engineering town and a center of excellence in the field  of cyber security, providing increased funding for technology  entrepreneurship and implementing ICT educational programs at schools  and higher education institutions.     During the exchange of views that followed, the speakers discussed  prospects for qualitative changes in the education system, market  demand for IT professionals, education-business-science model and  other issues.

The Prime Minister asked about the results of joint programs  implemented with the government, noted the importance of continuity  and highlighted the implementation of breakthrough measures of  strategic importance: "I need a program to turn the world  upside-down. What changes should we make so that your industry, your  business and the market could develop in addition to specific  programs? What is preventing you? I need to realize your policies in  terms of both specialist training and increased productivity in the  GDP."

Karen Karapetyan advised that the Government is going to establish an  investment fund, which will provide a mechanism to assist businesses,  including the field of information and telecommunication  technologies.

"Let us understand your expectations and commitments. The most  difficult task today is to allocate money from the budget, which  suffers from a serious deficit. But we can take a share in other  forms, including the property and other assets we have. If you set up  a task force that to examine and make recommendations regarding your  plans, we can move forward in this direction," the Head of Government  noted.

The Prime Minister instructed the Minister of Transport,  Communication and Information Technologies to work with IT sphere  representatives in order to generate clear synergies and develop  targeted measures to offer specific proposals with practical results.

To note, in 2015 there were nearly 500 IT companies in Armenia. The  sector demonstrates 20-25% annual growth. The share of the IT sector  in GDP of Armenia is 3.8%. It is envisaged to ensure 1bln USD  turnover in the sector by 2018.