Expert: IT in Armenia became a PR tool for officials

ArmInfo. IT became an instrument of public relations for Armenian officials. This opinion was expressed by the chairman of the Union of IT Companies (UITE) Karen Vardanyan on July 5 at a press conference.

"They say that IT is a priority area of development for the Government of Armenia, but these are just words. I do not view PR from the negative point of view, but this should not be the main function of the authorities. The main thing is the meaningfulness of the actions they take, "he stressed..

In this regard, the expert said that a month earlier the government and relevant ministries had submitted a strategic development program for UITE for 2017-2021, but there had been no discussions on the program until today. In addition, K. Vardanyan stressed that no directions for the strategic development of the Union have been reflected in the new government program. "We still do not know who is implementing our strategic development program, who is against it, and who refrained altogether," he added.

In particular, the head of the Union noted that today IT-state orders are carried out with the funds of international structures, the terms of cooperation with which exclude the participation of Armenian IT companies in the performance of orders of national importance. As a result, according to him, the internal IT market does not develop.  "At every opportunity, officials say that the IT sector of Armenia is developed, but when it comes to formalizing government orders, the government uses the services of foreign contractors, commenting on this lack of opportunities for domestic IT companies," he said.  Generally speaking of the new government program, the expert noted the absence of mechanisms for consolidation. Having defined this as the main gap, K. Vardanyan stressed that the implementation of the program without the presence of such mechanisms is impossible.