K. Minasian: There is no word about investment in IT sector strategy

At the 14th IT Forum , Deputy CEO of the Union of IT Enterprises of Armenia (UITE) Hayk Chobanian presented the sector’s strategy for the next 5 years.

Deputy Minister of Economy Ms. Karine Minasian was present at the event and made several comments on the sector’s strategy, noting in particular that Economy Ministry did not participate in the development of that strategy.

During a talk with Aysor.am later, Ms. Minansian indicated a methodological problem in the strategy. “The government should be viewed not as an object - it is a subject with whom the UITE implements a joint program”.

She said the IT strategy contains no word about the sector’s investments and their attraction, while the IT sector develops slowly without investment.

UITE CEO Karen Vardanian told Ayspor.am that they invited Ministry of Economy to participate in discussions of the strategy, but only a department head was present. Ms. Minasian said for her part that the department head participated as an observer, whereas both the minister and deputy ministers of economy should be involved in discussions of the IT sector strategy.

According to her, the strategy has to do with issues related to the state policy, particularly the planned changes in the field of education, an increase in the number of laboratories, etc. “The government deals with such problems. We attract funds through international organizations so projects cannot be implemented without the government’s participation”.

The strategy presented at the UITE forum today is still at the discussion stage.