International experience shows that the best place to create such park is a free economic zone.
For the last few decades, within diversification and the transition from a resource economy to an industrial-resource economy, Turkmenistan has got large reserves for attracting investments both at the expense of foreign and local companies and funds of the local population, and not only in the oil and gas sector, but also in a number of other branches of the economy. It is primarily related to the introduction of such structures, elements and mechanisms of a market economy such as a stock exchange, shares, business valuation of companies and property, and much more. Expert Yuri Aronsky in an interview to CentralAsia.news spoke about the importance of creating a park of innovative technologies.
The experience of a number of countries, both developed and developing, shows that today, within the transition to an industrial-digital innovative economy, IT technologies can successfully solve issues of both attracting investment and creating a large number of innovative jobs. Moreover, government investments can be either minimal or absent altogether.
— Today in Turkmenistan, work in the field of the digital economy within the framework of the Concept of the Digital Economy for 2019-2025 and the State Program of the Digital Economy for 2021-2025, initiated by the President is actively carried out under the close supervision of the government. One of the ways for the effective full-scale implementation of these documents is the creation of a high-tech park, where the offices of international IT and innovation companies from the countries closest to us, innovative enterprises such as business entities of the private sector and startups in Turkmenistan operate on one compact territory. It will be a small territory that will bring together many talents and companies working for the future of the country, — said Aronsky.
International experience shows that the best place to create such a high-tech park is a free economic zone located in the capital of the country, where there is already available infrastructure. This location facilitates both the ease of doing business and the abundance of the most talented and educated people.
The collaboration of international institutions such as Huawei, Intel, Microsoft and national companies will provide the most talented youth with the opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas alongside world leaders in innovation in information and biotechnology, which should lead to an explosive growth of startups, including a future analogue of the Turkmen Google that may appear.
— Preliminary calculations carried out by specialists of the IT technology department of the Union of State Economists show that it is quite realistic to achieve the design capacity of such a free economic zone, which we called «Innovative Turkmenistan», within 5 years after launch — these are 10 offices of international companies, 20 leading companies from Turkmenistan, working in the field of high technologies, 50 start-ups and 1000 working qualified local specialists, — said the economist.
It is assumed that within the framework of the FEZ «Innovative Turkmenistan» in just a few years the country will be able to raise a new generation of market economy leaders who will provide modernization in all economic sectors both within the business community and, possibly, in the future, by switching to government service. And young people will be able to get the professional knowledge and experience so necessary for the economy of the future without leaving their native country.
In total, on the basis of the Free Economic Zone «Innovative Turkmenistan», about 3,000 people will work so that the country can meet the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution with dignity and prepare the national economy for new global digital realities.
