YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government highlights the role of technologies and will try to be unique in the field of technological advancement, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan said at a panel organized during the 23rd World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) in Yerevan.

Leading futurist, geopolitical expert, science fiction novelist, and media commentator Jamie Metzl, who is one of the speakers of the WCIT 2019, stated at the panel that Armenia has a wonderful opportunity to lead the wave of change. “You can look around the world, you can see what others are doing and you can draw lessons. And then you can move and move quickly. And to do that you need an amazing people, and Armenia has that, you need amazing corporate leaders, and Armenia has that, and you need incredible government leaders, and Armenia has that”, Jamie Metzl said, asking what Armenia is seeking for, which countries’ example inspire it.

“As we are unique in many fields, we will be trying to be unique in the field of technological advancement as well, I believe. Of course, the countries you mentioned, such as Singapore, Israel, Estonia and some other countries have gone pretty far in digitizing their public services, a lot of business processes inside the public administration and in the businesses as well. But I think each and every country has its own problems and threats”, the deputy PM said.

He stated that all governments will face a major shift in the work market with the technological advancement. “This is where we see the issue and this is what we will try to solve in the future with the technologies”, he said.

He reminded Work Armenia program, which is particularly focused not only on today’s jobs, but also the jobs of the future. He said that the Armenian government is trying to find technological solutions. “Everything relies on education system, because this system should prepare the students not for today’s work market, but for five years further work market”, he said, adding that the government will work with Singapore on the digital agenda, there are several initiatives, but each country has local problems which can be solved with local forces.

President of the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE), Chair of the WCIT Organizing Committee Alexander Yesayan said sometimes the business communities criticize the governments why changes are not made that fast, but it’s not the case that the public sector doesn’t understand, it is because of the responsibility and difficulties in the system. He noted that it’s much easier for the business to implement new things. “The technology sector is growing, and we need to use our local resources. And Armenia has an opportunity to use its local resources to develop software solutions which in some cases can be even advanced than any other country or a specific region is using”, he said.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan