The EEC Minister Karine Minasyan urged the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union to create digital platforms to ensure cybersecurity
On October 14, 2016 the EEC Board Member - Minister in charge of Domestic Markets, Informatization, Information and Communication Technologies Karine Minasyan raised an issue on the platforms that the EAEU companies will use to work, sell their products, and go to foreign markets.
According to estimates by leading researchers in the field of ICT, by 2020 25% of the global GDP will be created in the digital economy. "When we see these figures, we understand that we have not created this agenda on transition to the digital economy in the EAEU yet. And what does shaping the digital economy mean? It means transition of real objects into digital images and their interaction in the digital space," said the EEC speaker during the discussion at the plenary session of the First International Forum of the Eurasian Partnership (IFEP).
According to the Minister, the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union must create a digital platform themselves or join the others to ensure cybersecurity of the Member States. According to the statistics of the Russian Federation, 90% of the foreign trade is organized by Chinese Alibaba platform. 90% of goods uncontrollably flow into Russia through it and digital parcel channels. "This means that all the data about what people consume, what their preferences are, as well as which industries should be developed further are collected on those platforms, through which the products and services are sold," concluded the EEC Minister.
Smaller countries, such as Armenia, cannot create and implement such projects alone. For this reason the EAEU Member States need to work together to establish joint assets, reach markets, and create digital economy of knowledge, economy of "uberization". "We see how management business models change, that they have become really effective and squeeze the agents out - that is a very large part of the business of our countries. We need to create or participate in such assets, so that no one uses any switches and to ensure digital sovereignty of our countries," said the EEC Minister.
Karine Minasyan also noted that the Eurasian Economic Commission established a working group of 254 people. She has already worked out the first approaches to the formation of the digital agenda of the Union, which will be discussed at the meeting on October 27 at the First International Exhibition Forum "Eurasian Week" in Moscow. The agenda includes the creation of a single digital market of the Union. "We must think about accessing the external market together. Within the framework of the Conference at "Eurasian Week”, signing of the Declaration of commitment to the formation of the digital agenda of the Eurasian Union and promoting these issues on our Eurasian space is planned," noted Karine Minasyan.
The EEC Minister said that starting from this year, the Commission has adopted policies to eliminate obstacles and restrictions on the Union’s domestic market. In particular, a system to identify barriers and Member States’ applications to the EEC has been created and started to resolve disputes. "I wanted to tell the representatives of Armenian and Russian business: if there are problems in the domestic market, we are ready to consider them and make decisions. We have already positive results," concluded Karine Minasyan.
The purpose of the First International Forum of the Eurasian Partnership is the development of integration processes of bilateral and multilateral trade and economic partnership in Eurasia.
The agenda includes issues of the economy, the situation in the investment area, business support mechanisms, and prospects of technological cooperation.
The 2-day Forum will be attended by representatives of the public authorities of Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union, heads of large businesses, banks, investment companies, public and international organizations, leading scientists and experts from countries around the world.
Press-release at the official Eurasian Economic Commission web-site