YEREVAN—Prime Minister Karen Karapetian held a consultative meeting to discuss the prospects for Armenia’s digital development. A top-level task force was said to have been established based on a statement issued by the heads of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) member states. On May 26, 2017, the task force will report back progress in its activities to the heads of the member states.
Discussion during the meeting included the priorities of different areas of digitalization, the formation of structures and institutions responsible for implementation of the digital development strategy, the EEU digital agenda goals, and performance targets by 2025. The meeting also noted that the global economy is proceeding along the lines of digitization, and Armenia needs to have its own “digital visiting card.”
Highlighting the digitization of the management subject in all areas, Karapetian said it might be a good incentive to improve management efficiency.
“This is extremely important. We had to take this step regardless of the Eurasian Economic Union’s program,” Karapetian said. “For example, by digitizing budgets, trash collection and many other services, we can enhance the efficiency of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development. Will digitalization result in more businesses, increased capacity? Yes of course. Digitization implies additional savings. We will understand why municipal budgets fall short of receipts due to incorrect planning and the reasons behind imbalances. The same is true for other sectors,” he continued, adding that each department should prepare and know its digitalization plan.
Based on Armenia’s digital development vision, a Prime Minister-headed national governing council will be established for support of digital development in Armenia. Karapetian instructed those responsible to set up a working group within the Council that will develop and submit the plan for digitization.
