Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev has proposed that Central Asian countries combine their capabilities and begin creating shared computing infrastructure based on an interconnected network of national data centres. The president made the proposal at the Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia in Avaza, Turkmenistan, the press service of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan said.
According to Mirziyoyev, creating shared infrastructure would allow the countries to use computing capacity more efficiently, develop their own digital products and create conditions for implementing large-scale artificial intelligence projects.
The President noted that artificial intelligence and big data are already transforming industry, transport, energy, agriculture, education and public administration. The productivity of the region’s economies and their ability to compete in the future will largely depend on the development of these technologies, he stressed.
Mirziyoyev also pointed out that digital projects can in many cases deliver results faster than large infrastructure projects.
At the same time, he said technological infrastructure alone is not enough. “We need specialists, scientific research and strong technology companies,” the head of state said.
In this regard, Uzbekistan proposed launching joint programmes to train sector-specific specialists, support research projects and expand opportunities for technology entrepreneurship.
The issue of personnel training was also developed in another presidential initiative. He proposed creating a Regional Atlas of In-Demand Professions and Skills that would bring together Central Asian countries’ forecasts on shortages of specialists and expected increases in demand for particular professions.
Such a tool, according to the proposal, would allow the region’s economic needs to be taken into account in advance when training specialists for industry, transport, energy, digital technologies and other sectors.
The Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia in Avaza was held for the first time with the participation of Azerbaijan.
