Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Olzhas Bektenov discussed with the Chairman of the Board of Directors, CEO and President of one of the largest American technology companies EPAM Systems Arkady Dobkin issues of cooperation in the field of digitalisation, IT-education and development of technological ecosystem of Kazakhstan.

In the course of the conversation the current trends in the development of the global technology market and the prospects for creating new joint business solutions, research initiatives, including the opening of an artificial intelligence laboratory at the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence, were discussed.

EPAM Systems is a world leader in software development and consulting. Today EPAM is represented in more than 17 cities of Kazakhstan and has about 1 thousand employees, services worth more than $40 million will be exported in 2024 within the framework of participation in Astana Hub.

In the direction of IT-education development, the parties stressed the importance of EPAM Kazakhstan's training centre, which has trained more than 5 thousand specialists. Under the Tech Orda programme, the company has trained over 700 students in IT skills in key areas including Java, Python and Data Engineering. A further 300 students have been selected for training this year.

"President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has set a strategic task. Kazakhstan should become a territory of total digitalisation and accelerated development of artificial intelligence. We are working in this direction. For 5 years the volume of export of IT-services has grown from $30 million to $600 million. However, it is not enough, we have a great potential. Kazakhstani specialists are talented and competitive. Cooperation with global giants will allow us to increase efficiency and ensure development at a faster pace," Olzhas Bektenov emphasised.

In turn, Arkady Dobkin noted the favourable investment climate in Kazakhstan and voiced a number of proposals for further cooperation in the field of digitalisation and introduction of new technologies in the real sector of the economy.

As a result of the meeting, the Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry was instructed to strengthen the support of projects with the necessary assistance.

#Olzhas Bektenov #The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan #Digitalization #International Cooperation