We see a future where digitization will significantly expand the freedom of movement of people and the realization of citizens’ right to work, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Eurasian Economic Forum in Yerevan.
“The terms “digital economy”, “digital society” and “digital transformation” have firmly established themselves in our daily lives, and we live in a reality characterized by technological breakthroughs. But it is very important to look back and define the concept of “digital transformation”,” PM Pashinyan said.
“To me, first of all, the term “digital transformation” means achieving efficiency and flexibility in operational processes by moving from analog data to digital data,” he added.
The Prime Minister emphasized that this definition, of course, also implies the activity of governments, but the emphasis should be placed on the whole society, because the digitization process of states should stem from the convenience of citizens and businesses, not the other way around.
“To build a digital society and a developed economy, we first decided to anchor our digital architecture on two important principles: trust and security. Digital processes must be practical, up-to-date and useful for people and businesses. If this does not happen, then this is not digitization, but an imitation of digitization, which makes no sense,” Nikol Pashinyan stated.
“In practice, it should be about the complete transformation of the work of public services. In this context, I will emphasize not only the need for digitalization of individual issues, but also the creation of such services that will satisfy the vital needs of our citizens and businesses and ensure a quick response to important events in their lives,” he added.
According to PM Pashinyan, successful digitization of these processes requires reliable, complete and accessible data to make public services fully transparent. “This will simplify the interaction of citizens and businesses with government agencies, making it more convenient, efficient and secure.”
“The concept of reliable data storage occupies a central place in the philosophy of digital transformation in Armenia. This system is based on trust between government institutions and, most importantly, between citizens, businesses and the state. Trusted data storage allows different government agencies to rely on each other’s information without having to share or duplicate it. This will replace document sharing and provide access to important legal data while complying with security and national regulations on data collection, storage and processing,” the Prime Minister noted.
According to him, data will be stored in national segments and will only be available in cross-border format upon request.
“For businesses, this process can improve the way cross-border trade and indirect taxes are paid,” PM Pashinyan said.
“Full payment of indirect taxes, legality of product circulation, sanitary, phytosanitary and veterinary control, quality and safety compliance can be carried out seamlessly on the basis of legally significant data available in the registries of the sending country. This will significantly reduce administrative costs and at the same time ensure product compliance with all requirements,” he noted.
“We see a future where digitization will significantly expand the freedom of movement of people and the realization of citizens’ right to work,” the Armenian PM emphasized.
Of course, he said, the implementation of these innovations will require significant efforts, “but we should not ignore the process that has already started, because it creates new opportunities for further development and improvement of all aspects of our interaction.”
