Belarus ready to create IT business 'haven'
MINSK. Dec 11 (Interfax) - Belarus has every chance of becoming at least a regional leader in the high-tech and IT spheres, President Alexander Lukashenko said.
"Life is developing so fast, we can't get away from that. If we start falling behind in this hectic life, we will suffer and lack something," Lukashenko's press office quoted him as saying at a meeting with senior government officials and representatives of the IT community.
"This concerns not only the development of the IT sector and not only high-tech. The subject of our meeting is much wider. Back in the spring we decided to create an IT country. This title is relative, but its essence is clear," he said.
"Our country has every chance of becoming at least a regional leader in the development of advanced fields such as artificial intelligence, big data and blockchain technology," he said.
Lukashenko said he would not slow these processes down and had never been retrograde, however the success of these plans will depend largely on the IT sector representatives themselves, he said.
He said state interests should not be neglected during the drive to profit from the new wave and it is the state that creates the conditions and guarantees stability and security. "All intelligent people now understand what stability and order are. Everybody tries to land on that shore. We are ready to provide the mooring, and even more than that - a haven. You have to run that haven well and grant the opportunity to make money. But the state needs to be string, so it has to be supported. What I'm saying is that while making money for yourselves, please don't forget you live in a particular state," Lukashenko said.
He said there are no clear answers to the global challenges created by the repaid development of technologies, so his current draft decree will have to be revised after has been adopted. "This will be the foundation, but it will have to be developed," he said.
"Let's think together, let's discuss these issues, let's have a brainstorming to understand what we have to do to achieve our goal and create an IT country. This will be our joint achievement, one we can be proud of," he said.