The XII International IT Forum, a key event in the life of the region, has ended in Ugra. Traditionally, the Forum has become a platform for business meetings and the signing of agreements important for Ugra. Representatives of foreign States consider the Forum as the best platform for exchanging experience in information technology development. The discussion centered on the issues of digital transformation of economic sectors, the social sphere, Internet security, cyber resilience, digital maturity, priority areas for the development and use of artificial intelligence technologies.
The Forum was held in a hybrid format (offline / online) using modern digital technologies. Thanks to the organized online broadcast, about 100 thousand people took part in the Forum events, 800 people from 70 countries of the world and 77 Russian regions visited the Forum sites. Representatives of the diplomatic corps of the CIS countries, African and American States in the Russian Federation took an active part in the IT-Forum.
The program included 45 events, including 4 international conferences: on information security "Infoforum - Ugra", conference of notaries "Integration of digital notaries into the digital economy of the country", conference #EdCrunch Ugra, UNESCO conference "Information and communication in the digital age: explicit and implicit impacts ”, a cycle of thematic round tables, panel discussions organized jointly with federal ministries and departments: the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Sports, the Analytical Center under the Government of the Russian Federation, the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly. All the proposals will be included in the final Ugra Declaration.
At the same time, the participants of the IT-Forum were not limited to only discussions and round tables - as a result, 15 agreements were signed.
The Government of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug signed an agreement with the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly to strengthen business and public relations, establish business cooperation, support industrial, scientific and technical, investment and other interaction of organizations and companies from the regions of Eurasia and Autonomous Okrug - Yugra. Within the cooperation, special attention will be paid to the implementation of joint humanitarian projects with the Assembly. Ugra will join the implementation of the federal project "Our Future"; the essence of the project is that children, the winners of the Olympiads in mathematics, physics, programming, chess and other sports, who have great achievements, but not enough famous among public, will be chosen representative faces of the forums. Digital regions of Russia such as Kaluga, Belgorod, Tula regions, North Ossetia, Tambov, Voronezh, Penza, Tyumen, Chelyabinsk, Smolensk regions, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Moscow and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - Yugra have already confirmed their participation in the “Our Future” project.
During the meeting with the Governor of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Ugra Natalia Komarova, Secretary General of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly Andrei Belyaninov outlined the possibility of opening a Representative Office of the Assembly in Ugra and took the initiative to create a Eurasian information platform aimed at uniting representatives of different states, sharing best practices and information.
At the Forum’s opening, the Head of the region announced the holding of the Forum - "Junior IT" on the international platform next year. “The International IT Forum is a notable event in the life of the IT community. Every major event must have a representative face. We propose to pay attention to the younger generation. Young people of today are early adopters of information technology and online communication. It is important to give young people opportunities for development, to see their desire to acquire knowledge in time, to support it. The basis of the digital economy, the knowledge economy, and the human resources potential of any State is children. The future belongs to them”, - noted Natalya Komarova.
An important event on the sidelines of the IT Forum was the panel discussion "Digital Cross-Border Interaction", organized jointly with the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly. Representatives of diplomatic missions and scientists from South Africa, Kenya, Benin, Venezuela, India, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and other countries presented their strategies for modernization and digitalization of various programs and industries. The discussion participants raised the issues of organizing mutual settlements between countries using innovations, the need to introduce a digital national currency, the development of digital diplomacy, data preservation, etc. The experts paid great attention to the topic of using electronic technologies in the social sphere and education. This work is being actively pursued in many countries.
Another interesting event for Ugra was the meeting of diplomats from Africa, Latin America and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The Governor of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Ugra discussed the export potential of Ugra with the ambassadors and consuls. This is not only oil and gas, but also the non-resource sector. Timber processing, tourism, mechanical engineering, agro-industrial complex and creative industries.
Gabriel Anicet Kotchofa, High Commissioner for International Relations of the Eurasian Economic Cooperation Organization: “Ugra as a region of the Russian Federation can give a lot to the African continent in different areas such as energy, education, telemedicine, tourism, cyber security”. Several draft cooperation agreements have already been developed, for example, with Tajikistan.
Zafar Sayidzoda, Consul General of the Republic of Tajikistan in Yekaterinburg, noted: “Ugra has every chance to greatly strengthen its position in the complex of interregional ties between Tajikistan and Russia. Today Tajikistan maintains interregional ties with 67 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Ugra is one of these regions. Ugra could abruptly, quickly, swiftly move forward in this regard. We are interested in this."
Consul General of the People's Republic of China in Yekaterinburg Tian Yongxian spoke about his intentions to closely cooperate with Russia. For the Minister of Communications of the Republic of South Africa, Faith Muthambi, participation in the IT Forum was an opportunity to learn about new ideas and change the perspective, improving public administration. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Benin to Russia Gabriel Anicet Kotchofa called the IT Forum "a useful platform for solving the problems of digital inequality".
Also on the sidelines of the Forum, agreements were reached on the construction of fiber-optic networks in remote areas of Yugra, on the development of a methodology for reducing the carbon footprint in the oil and gas and energy sectors, and on the development of the region's transport infrastructure. This suggests that the international IT Forum is a platform for direct dialogue and forging business relations, which over time can turn into great friendship and practical cooperation.