YEREVAN, OCTOBER 7, ARMENPRESS. The 2019 World Congress on Information Technologies (WCIT) has officially kicked off in Yerevan.

Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan is expected to deliver remarks at the opening ceremony in the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex, the official venue of the event.

Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises President Alexander Yesayan, the chairman of the steering committee of WCIT 2019, will also deliver a speech.

A number of panel discussions will take place during the day, with multiple side events.

WCIT is the signature event of the World Information Technology & Services Alliance (WITSA), a consortium of ICT associations from 83 countries, representing 90% of the industry.

This year, WCIT will address The Power of Decentralization: Promise and Peril to explore how information and communications technology is transforming our lives for better and for worse—its impact on profits and prosperity, safety and security, democracy and humanity.

The Congress will be held in Yerevan, Armenia from October 6 to 9 and will include sessions on topics ranging from artificial intelligence, virtual reality, smart cities to cybersecurity, climate change, and more.

Kim Kardashian, CNN’s Richard Quest, Infosys founder Narayan Murthy, GIPHY founder Alex Chung, Serj Tankian, Reddit and Initialized Capital co-founder Alexis Ohanian are among the speakers.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan