Senior Belarusian official upbeat on digital development despite Western sanctions

February 3, BPN. National digital sovereignty is especially important amid “unprecedented sanctions” imposed against Russia and Belarus in 2022, Belarusian Prime Minister Raman Hałoŭčanka has told the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The disconnection of three Belarusian banks from the SWIFT system allowed them to quickly develop “a successful solution to relay financial messages,” the Belarusian government’s press office quoted the premier as saying. Now a number of companies from other countries use it, he added.

“The new digital reality on its own terms” will evolve with new AI-based production materials, processes and equipment, using big data, robotics, virtual and augmented reality, he noted.

At the same time, Western restrictions on software sales and updates and a ban on telecommunication equipment supplies hinder the implementation of modern technologies and services, Hałoŭčanka said.

The Eurasian Economic Union’s (EAEU) integration suffers as industries keep relying on parts and components from third countries that may stop supplying them, he noted. Hałoŭčanka also mentioned the Eurasian electric bus pilot project as a Belarusian success story.