The meeting of the heads of ministries and agencies of the SCO member states responsible for the development of ICT

On 1 February 2024, the 3rd meeting of the heads of ministries and agencies of the SCO member states responsible for the development of information and communication technology was held as part of the SCO Digital Forum in Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan. The meeting brought together Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of India to the Republic of Kazakhstan T.V. Nagendra Prasad, Minister of Information and Communications Technology of the Islamic Republic of Iran Issa Zarepour, Minister of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bagdat Mussin, Chief Engineer at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China Zhao Zhiguo, Minister of Digital Development of the Kyrgyz Republic Nuria Kutnaeva, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the Republic of Kazakhstan Nauman Bashir Bhatti, Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation Maksut Shadayev, Deputy Head of the Communications Service under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan I.Atoev, First Deputy Minister of Digital Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan Oleg Pekos, First Deputy Minister of Communications and Informatisation of the Republic of Belarus Pavel Tkach, as well as SCO Deputy Secretary-General Grigory Logvinov, representatives of SCO dialogue partners, and employees of diplomatic missions.

The meeting participants exchanged views on successful cases of digitalisation, challenges and prospects of ICT for sustainable development. The heads of delegations shared their plans for interaction to reduce the digital divide within the SCO space and their perspectives on global trends.