Ministry of Communications and Informatization to coordinate Belarus' digitalization policy

The Ministry of Communications and Informatization will be granted new functions in the field of digitalization, Minister of Communications and Informatization Konstantin Shulgan told reporters following his meeting with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko to discuss the draft decree on the establishment of a digital development and informatization agency, BelTA has learned.

“The main new function is to elaborate and coordinate the government policy. Development cannot be stopped, occasional projects keep emerging every now and then, but they produce an economic effect when they are aligned on a single platform for a single result. This makes it possible to create various products and use them regardless of where enterprises are located,” Konstantin Shulgan said.

A reminder, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko heard out a report on the draft decree on the establishment of a digital development and informatization agency on 4 April. “I would like to hear the pros and cons of creating a new government agency in the field of digital development and informatization. How are we going to do it (or shall we do it in the first place?), how can we benefit from it, or maybe, indeed, we should take our time and not hurry,” Aleksandr Lukashenko asked.

“It is gratifying for me that the functions [proposed by the draft decree] that were supported by the head of state will help promote digital development, informatization and other things and produce an economic effect. Everything that was included in the decree was supported by the head of state,” the minister of communications and informatization said after the meeting with the president.