Belarus is one of the leaders among the Eastern Partnership countries in the digitisation of its economy, Dirk Schuebel, the head of division for bilateral relations with Eastern Partnership countries at the European External Action Service, has told the Minsk Forum, the BelTA news agency reported.
“Belarus is one of the leading countries, one of the driving forces in the development of this area. It is obvious that Belarus sees the pressing needs of the time and is ready to reform its economy on the basis of digital technologies,” Dirk Schuebel said.
With regard to digital technologies, Dirk Schuebel said both sides wanted to modernise their economies through digitisation, adding this was one of the main cooperation areas promoted in the Eastern Partnership.
“Belarus does well in e-commerce. This is the sector where small and medium-sized enterprises feel well. Here, Belarus demonstrates better results than most of our partner countries. Belarus also needs to make more efforts in the introduction of digital technologies in customs services, and in the regulation of the telecommunications industry,” the EU official said.
The draft decree on the digitalisation of the Belarus economy will soon be signed, Belarus’ First Deputy Prime Minister Vasily Matyushevsky said earlier at the Forum. “The president does not want half measures. He would like a global agenda on economic digitalisation,” he said. It is expected that the digitisation of the Belarusian economy will add 1% to the country's GDP annually.
For the 15th time since 1997, representatives from politics, economy and society from Belarus, Germany and the European neighbouring countries met in the Belarusian capital for the Minsk Forum, from 16-18 November. This year’s forum was dedicated to ‘Belarus, Germany and the EU: Eastern Partnership, Civil Society and Economic Relations’.
The EU4Business programme has set up a number of initiatives in Belarus to support enterprise and sustainable growth. EU funding, channelled through EU4Business, focuses on improving access to finance and foreign markets, building business skills and encouraging entrepreneurship.