Tigran Sargsyan, Vice Chairman of the EDB Management Board, speaks at the Eastern Economic Forum 2021’s Digital Sovereignty session
Vladivostok, 2 September 2021. Tigran Sargsyan, Vice Chairman of the Eurasian Development Bank’s (EDB) Management Board, spoke at the Digital Sovereignty session of the Eastern Economic Forum taking place in Vladivostok.
Session moderator Andrey Bezrukov, President of the Technological Sovereignty Exports Association and Professor at MGIMO University, underlined the importance of digital sovereignty for the protection of both business interests in the context of growing competition in domestic and foreign markets and those of the states, for which ensuring digital sovereignty is becoming a major challenge in the 21st century. “I would like to start our discussion with a fundamental article by Tigran Sargsyan published in Russia in Global Affairs and the main challenges facing the state today,” said he when opening the session.
Tigran Sargsyan noted that it is very important to differentiate between the concepts and categories of digitalisation and digital transformation: “The first concept suggests the introduction of digital technologies in economic sectors, it is a technological process. The second one, digital transformation, is about the emergence and implementation of a new technological paradigm, with a significant and irreversible impact on the substantive basis of the economy, on people’s behaviour, and on the institutional framework of the state itself.” The latter, according to Tigran Sargsyan, must be effective not only in terms of the conventional territorial or sectoral organisation of the state and society, but also in terms of the new, virtual, organisation where the state often loses competition to transnational digital corporations.
During the discussion, Tigran Sargsyan noted that the EDB Fund for Digital Initiatives was actively working on both digital transformation projects and the development of most effective transformation models, which could create a comparative advantage for the Eurasian states in the joint implementation of their digital sovereignties and the export of opportunities: “We estimate that we have three years to develop and start actively implementing our sovereign model. Failing that, we will lose our competitive edge.”
The participants and speakers at the session included Igor Drozdov, Chairman of the Board, Skolkovo Foundation; Maxim Parshin, Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation; Aleksei Iuzhakov, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Promobot; and Artur Yusupov, Chairman of the Board, Moi Bizness Association of Entrepreneurship Development Institutes.
Additional Information:
The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) is an international financial institution promoting integration and development in its member countries. For 15 years, the Bank has worked to strengthen and broaden economic ties and foster comprehensive development in its member countries – Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, and Tajikistan. The EDB's charter capital totals US $7 billion. The EDB’s portfolio mainly consists of projects with an integration effect in the areas of transport infrastructure, digitalisation, green energy, agriculture, industry, and mechanical engineering. The Bank adheres to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and ESG principles in its operations.
The Eurasian Development Bank’s Fund for Digital Initiatives was established by the Bank’s Council on 30 June 2020. The Fund’s objective is to assist EDB member states in creating digital transformation tools and practices by integrating their information resources and participating in the development and financing of projects, including those implemented under the Eurasian Economic Union’s Digital Agenda 2025.
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