Thursday, 27 August 2009
A media briefing devoted to the activity of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the sphere of information and communication technologies (ICT) was held in Tashkent at the UNDP Representative Office in Uzbekistan on 27 August.
During the event journalists were told about the latest initiatives, projects, plans in the sphere of ICT, in particular, the activity of "Assisting the Government of Uzbekistan in the formulation and implementation of information and communication technologies for development policy" ("ICT Policy" - ICTP) project.
Representatives of the ICTP UNDP Project told about the forthcoming events organized by the project in cooperation with national and international partners in Uzbekistan: ICT Week – InfoCom 2009, 7th National ICT Summit, seminars and conferences, round tables conducted within the ICT Week.
Thus, ICTP project is a joint initiative of the UNDP and the Government of Uzbekistan. The project is aimed at the implementation of two specific, but at the same time, interrelated objectives: development of information and communication technologies (ICT) as a sector in Uzbekistan and facilitate usage of ICT by Government to achieve development goals.
In the pursuit of its goals ICTP is engaged into a number of activities grouped into five broad directions: strategic consultations, implementation of pilot initiatives, capacity building, awareness raising, public and private partnership enhancement.
Strategic Consultations represent the focus of the ICTP's activity and cover the critical issues of ICTs development and application such as development and endorsement of favorable regulatory policies and practices, provision of affordable access to ICTs, e-government, e-education, e-commerce, creation of information resources, and other emerging issues.
ICTP builds its strategic consultations on the studies and researches regularly conducted by domestic and international experts. The featured areas include ICT development in Uzbekistan, copyright in IT, free / open source software, and outsourcing. ICTP backs its recommendations with provision of needs tailored technical assistance programs.
Implementation of pilot initiatives is used as the most convincing approach to demonstrate the benefits of ICTs and to draw the roadmap for future wide scale implementations. In the design and implementation of pilot initiatives ICTP encourages active involvement of its partners.
Through its e-government pilot project, .uz domain zone improvement project, creation and development of electronic digital signature registration centers, and telemedicine project, ICTP helps government agencies, academic institutions, local communities and broad public to explore the potential of ICTs for achieving specific development goals.
Development and application of ICTs as development tools remains in Uzbekistan as a relatively new phenomenon that calls for provision of capacity building assistance. In provision of assistance ICTP stems its activities from the broad definition of capacity building and provides assistance aimed at human resource, organizational and institutional development.
ICTP helps to build capacities through a series of IT trainings, seminars, round tables and consultations, development of education materials and guidelines for a greater participation in the ICTs development processes and policies. Recent examples of activities in this area include premier seminar on protection of intellectual property rights in IT, improving teaching capabilities of Tashkent University of Information Technologies, IT training to other UNDP joint projects, and consultations on mainstreaming ICT components in UNDP projects in Uzbekistan.
ICTP uses unique approach in capacity building through the special IT Volunteers Service established under ICTP that mobilizes resources of IT educated enthusiasts and provides free technical assistance and trainings to non-commercial organizations, government, academic institutions to improve the knowledge and skills in ICT sphere and to fully exploit the benefits from more effective use of ICTs.
Availability of effective channels of information exchange and promotion of open dialogue are essential to ensure that decisions respect the interests of all stakeholders. Public awareness on ICTs' benefits in social and economic development can help to prioritize the ICTs development as well as to accelerate ICTs penetration and broaden their application areas.
ICTP supports awareness raising on ICTs' benefits among general audience through creation, advancing and dissemination of relevant information on regional and national levels. ICTP promotes access to national resources in the Internet and assists national partners in the development of national content on social, cultural, economic, and other aspects. ICTP encourages involvement of people in the ICT issues through special TV contests, broadcasting "Tarraqiyot Sari" (Towards the Development), an educational program on TV dedicated to the ICTs, and maintains close cooperation with media to ensure coverage of ICT related news and events.
Many development efforts call for close cooperation between different organizations on a bilateral and multilateral framework. Partnerships can enhance capabilities of an individual organization, offer access to resources and allow for joint action.
ICTP encourages and creates a platform for close partnership of key government decision makers, private sector, international community and civil society for open dialogue on ICT related issues. Annually conducted National Summit on ICTs, regular meetings, seminars, and conferences are aimed to facilitate exchange and fortify partnership.
ICTP aims to enhance public and private partnership in the framework of the National Association of IT Companies and Organizations of Uzbekistan (Uzbek IT Association), an initiative advanced by ICTP and supported by the Government.
ICTP closely cooperates with variety of government agencies, international organizations, academic and research institutions, private companies in Uzbekistan and abroad to create partnership network for ICTs wide-scale penetration in Uzbekistan. ICTP invites all stakeholders to cooperate in ICT field and is open for the new partnership initiatives.
National Summit on Information and Communication Technologies – ICT Summit 2009 – one of the most striking events of ICT Week – InfoCom 2009 will be held on 22 September at the International Business Center in Tashkent. It is important to note that ICT Week – InfoCom 2009 is held in Tashkent annually in autumn and is considered as to be one of the most interesting events in the ICT sphere of Uzbekistan.
From year to year, ICT Summit, being one of the most important events in ICT sphere in Uzbekistan, attracts more and more attention of national ICT specialists, as well as international experts from around the world.
Annually nearly 400 delegates – leading experts of ICT market, representatives of governmental authorities, public and international organizations, managers and specialists of domestic and foreign IT companies - are participating in the National Summit on ICT.
According to participants' opinions, ICT Summit is an original platform for specialists to analyze the state of ICT market, familiarize themselves with the new achievements made in this field, and encounter new reliable partners.
This year National ICT Summit celebrates its seventh anniversary and creates favorable conditions for demonstration of new tendencies, achievements and benefits of ICT implementation in different spheres of life, as well as discussion of prospects and familiarization with professional views on the issues of ICT development, expansion of partners' range and joint determination of solutions of tasks arousing during extensive realization of ICT potential and rapid development of ICT as a sector itself.
Topics for general discussion include trends and major developments in regulatory policy, progress and challenges in implementation of national ICT development programmes, best practices of ICT deployment in various sectors, issues of infrastructure development and other most critical areas.
The National ICT Summit 2009 is organized by Coordination Council for development of computerization and ICT, the Committee on information and communication technologies of the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis, Uzbek Agency for Communication and Informatization (UzACI), United Nations Development Programme represented by "Assisting the Government of Uzbekistan in the Formulation and Implementation of ICT for Development Policy" Project (ICTP) and Association of IT Companies and Organizations of Uzbekistan.
