President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev took part in the opening ceremony of the international forum on artificial intelligence, held at the International Congress Center.
According to the press service of the head of the Uzbek state, speaking at the opening of the forum, the president emphasized that in the 21st century, information technologies and digitalization processes are becoming the main criterion for the progress of any country. “It will not be an exaggeration to say that the great scientists who glorified our civilization during the First and Second Renaissance – Muhammad al-Khorezmi, Abu Raykhon Beruni, Mirzo Ulugbek – made a huge contribution to the development of algorithms, mathematics and logic, thereby laying the foundations for the current progress in the field of artificial intelligence,” the president noted.
The head of state especially emphasized that, being the heirs of this invaluable scientific heritage, it is necessary to be open new technologies and turn them into a powerful support for the further development of the country. The first step in transforming the field of artificial intelligence was the adoption of the National Strategy, based on best international experience.
As a result, the share of the digital economy in the country’s GDP has doubled. The volume of direct investment in the field of artificial intelligence and digital technologies has reached almost $2 billion. Exports of IT services have grown 4.5 times in recent years and approached $1 billion – this is convincing confirmation of the effectiveness of the ongoing reforms. In addition, the International Digital Center was recently created, operating under a special regime based on English law. The number of universities training IT specialists has almost tripled – to 145, the number of students has reached 80 thousand.
The One Million Programmers program, launched in 2019 jointly with the United Arab Emirates, has significantly expanded its scope: more than two million young people have been trained. Through the El-Yurt Umidi Foundation, about 100 of our talented young specialists are studying at leading universities in the world. “We are confident that tomorrow, upon returning to their homeland, they will become the driving force behind the introduction of the most advanced achievements of artificial intelligence in education, the economy and public administration,” the president emphasized.