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In recent years, the leaderships of the UAE and other GCC countries have prioritized the rapid digitalization of their countries in order to diversify their economic models and attract top intellectual capital to execute ambitious projects. I did. These measures also aim to facilitate knowledge transfer and empower local talent trained by global engineering leaders. And it is here that large technology companies with a large presence in Central Asia and the Caucasus can play a key role.
In recent years, Central Asia and the Caucasus region has gained an important position on the global digital enablement map, attracting companies from the region to develop local expertise and provide digital services to leading companies in the Gulf region. There is an opportunity to provide. By relocating some of their business activities, including their development centers, these companies will naturally contribute to the creation of a single digital market between the Gulf, Central Asia and the Caucasus regions. Thanks to the synergies between the technology sectors of these three regions, their single digital market could become the third global digital hub alongside the US-centric and China-centric markets.
Now, to me, the formation of a new technology hotspot between the UAE and Central Asia seems not only real, but already gaining momentum. The first reason for this is that Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the United Arab Emirates are located in the same time zone, are close to each other, and hold a similar cultural code. For companies from the Gulf countries, cooperation with developers from this region is convenient and much cheaper than working with developers from Western countries. Companies there already provide digital services to some of the world’s largest enterprises, including European banks, major retail chains, international financial institutions, major airlines, and a new generation of government technology solutions. These cutting-edge technologies are what the Gulf countries need today.
Related: Driving the digital economy: A look back at Dubai’s efforts in building a resilient tech startup landscape
Second, Eurasian countries have developed a pipeline of more than 10,000 startups. Many are already or have the potential to become global success stories. Investing in start-ups in Central Asia and the Caucasus region therefore presents a very attractive investment opportunity for UAE investors and the opportunity to significantly expand their digital footprint. That said, what are the real prospects for fostering digital cooperation between regions? High. Just learn from our own experience at StrategEast, an independent agency working to develop Eurasia’s digital economy. As you know, in October 2023, we organized a working visit for Eurasian government officials responsible for information technology (IT) sector development and met with colleagues in Dubai and Sharjah. As a result of this visit, the parties started discussing various forms of cooperation and as a first immediate outcome, Kyrgyzstan decided to set up a country pavilion at GITEX 2024 in Dubai.
An independent report on the development of the IT ecosystem in the Caucasus and Central Asia also reveals how much IT exports from countries in the region have grown over the past few years, increasing the region’s IT potential. You can see that Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have created remarkable IT export industries from scratch in just a few years. As of the end of 2023, Central Asian countries alone exported more than USD 1 billion of digital products. Against this backdrop, amid recession in the US and Western Europe, the UAE now has a significant competitive advantage in the race for digital talent and expertise from Central Asia and the Caucasus. The synergies that can be created today, both in the consumption of digital services by these companies, investment in start-ups based there, and the soft landing of some companies in the Gulf region, will help the UAE in the short term. will be in the following state: We are digital sprinters and digital leaders, not only locally but globally.
For decades, the UAE and other Gulf states have supported agricultural development in African countries, saving millions of people from hunger and winning new allies on the continent. Today, in a world of knowledge-based economies, the IT industry in Central Asia and the Caucasus countries offers the UAE an opportunity to increase its digital expertise and significantly increase investment, as well as continue its service excellence. It offers. There is a tradition of being hailed as economic changers in transition regions.
Related: Huawei Cloud Startup Program to digitally empower 1,000 SMEs in the Middle East and Central Asia by 2025
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