On December 22, BSC Business Support Center conducted a panel discussion titled “Shaping the Digital Economy Agenda in Armenia,” fostering a collaborative dialogue between the public and private sectors.
The primary objective of the panel discussion was to cultivate a collaborative environment, facilitating the exchange of experiences among diverse stakeholders from public, private sectors and international organizations. The agenda also included presentations on digitalization projects, with an overarching aim to encourage further cooperation in the digitalization domain.
Commencing the meeting, Lilit Mheryan, “Shaping the Digital Economy Agenda in Armenia" project’s coordinator, presented the initiatives implemented by the BSC within the project framework, sharing outcomes and insights from previous public and private dialogue (PPD) meetings. After summarizing the project, panel discussion moderator Samvel Gevorgyan started the discussion.
Speakers of the panel discussion were:
Arshak Kerobyan – RA Ministry of High-tech Industry, Head of Digitalization Department,
Ani Toroyan – Expert of the RA Ministry of Economy, Department of Knowledge-based Economy,
Arman Khachaturyan – Information Systems Agency of Armenia (ISAA), Chief Executive Director,
Harmik Azaryan – Information Systems Agency of Armenia (ISAA), Head of Service Delivery,
Armine Arakelyan – European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Senior Analyst.
At the beginning of the discussion, each speaker presented their organizational structure, the scope of responsibility, and directions of activities.
Below is a short version of each speaker's speech:
Arshak Kerobyan, the Head of Digitalization Department at the RA Ministry of High-tech Industry, outlined the competencies and range of initiatives within the digitalization agenda. He emphasized that the ministry primarily develops policies and, through specific programs, contributes to sector development and specialist training. Notably, one of the ministry's achievements through digitalization is the enhanced direct communication among service providers, producers, and consumers. The role of intermediary structures diminishes due to identification processes, fostering improved relations and cooperation. Arshak Kerobyan also underscored the importance of cybersecurity in the digitalization agenda, mentioning the recent circulation of a new law developed to address cyber threats. Recognizing that cyberattacks are networked, the law aims to establish interoperability among all entities and structures operating in the field. The Ministry is gearing up to discuss a new law on e-commerce, which aims to simplify and make e-commerce components more accessible for the private sector and businesses.
In response to a question from one of the attendees regarding whether artificial intelligence poses a threat of drastic changes in the labor market and job cuts, Arshak Kerobyan answered, that the introduction of artificial intelligence will elevate the quality of jobs and work, necessitating the emergence of new, more interesting, and high-quality professions. The growth of creative works is anticipated as a positive outcome of this development.
Ani Toroyan, being an expert of the Department of Knowledge-Based Economy at the RA Ministry of Economy, spoke about the department's activities in the field of digitalization. Ani Toroyan noted that the actions of the Ministry within the framework of the digitalization strategy are aimed at increasing the productivity of the economy. The Ministry has initiated the development of an entrepreneurship strategy, one of the axes of which is the digitalization of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Since the purpose of the Department of Knowledge-Based Economy is the development of state policies and tools, we do not provide direct support to the private sector, we collect the problems that exist and develop programs to eliminate them. At the moment, we have two active programs for the modernization of the economy: the support program for the purchase of leasing equipment and the program for attracting highly qualified specialists. We are now working on raising awareness on these programs and improving communication with the private sector.
Arman Khachaturyan, as the chief executive director of the Information Systems Agency of Armenia, told about the agency's initiatives, their progress, and recorded successes. The activity of the agency takes place in three main directions: data collection, national identification and cyber security. The citizen is the basis of the action plan of ISAA’s structure. The relevant departments should prioritize the digitalization of the citizen's actions: family, personal events, business establishment, identification processes, through which relations with the state and state services will be digitalized. It is very important that as a result of the entire process of digital transformation, an environment of trust will be created for the public-private and state-citizen dialogues, the services offered by the private sector will be available not only to the state, but also to the representatives of the private sector. The agency has developed a new law on cyber security, which has already been put into circulation and is available on the e-draft platform. Arman Khachaturyan addressed the attendees to get acquainted with the draft law and give feedback. A CERT team (Computer Emergency Response) has already been formed, the main objective of which is to provide network protection against cyber attacks, to increase the digital security of public sector structures and private sector critical infrastructures.
Harmik Azaryan, as the Head of Service Delivery at the Information Systems Agency of Armenia, commenced the panel discussion by presenting the agency's key initiatives. He shared that a national service platform, combining private and public services under a life events approach, will soon be launched. The initial layer will focus on digital identification, introducing the “Yes em” identification platform. This platform streamlines identification by collecting individual data only once, allowing subsequent identification through an ID card or mobile ID. The efficiency of this platform lies in its collaboration with the private sector while being under state control. In response to an attendee's question, Harmik Azaryan highlighted that the ongoing digitalization processes will standardize and unify the appearance of state online service platforms. This standardization will provide citizens with streamlined access to discover and utilize all digital services.
Armine Arakelyan, as a senior analyst of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), told that 3 years ago, when the covid pandemic started, the representatives of the private sector understood the need for digitization and initiated digitization of their processes mainly in one direction: online sales. During this period, EBRD conducted awareness raising webinars on digital tools and solutions. One of the goals of the EBRD was to guide businesses not only implement digitization, but also conduct digital transformation, which is a more comprehensive process, digitizing all business processes. The EBRD closely cooperates with the RA Ministry of Economy, together they study and discuss what systematic solutions there can be provided for the digitalization of the business environment. Armine Arakelyan mentioned the conducted training for digitalization consultants, during which they got acquainted with examples of various organizations, studied them, and developed strategies for digital transformation. EBRD has a Digitalization Hub under its structure, which examines all implemented programs from the digitalization point of view and implements this component.
The series of public-private dialogues (PPDs) is carried out within the framework of the “Shaping the Digital Economy Agenda in Armenia" project conducted by the Business Support Center (BSC) with support from the Center for International Private Enterprises (CIPE).
As part of the mentioned project, a video titled “Business Digitalization Stories” was created, featuring SME representatives sharing their experiences and the positive impacts of implementing digital transformation in their companies. The video is available at this link…
