Employee of the Institute of Control Systems participated in the international webinar Digital CAREC Virtual Policy Dialogue: Digital FDI Ecosystem
16.03.2023 /
The Digital CAREC Virtual Policy Dialogue: Digital FDI Ecosystem international webinar took place on March 15, 2023. The webinar was organized in partnership with Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Institute, Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI).
The international webinar was opened by Kabir Jurazoda - Director, CAREC Institute, Steven Liu - Capacity Building Specialist, CAREC Institute, and Syed Hassan Alsagoff - Manager, Science, Technology and Innovation Department, IsDB.
The webinar featured special sessions highlighting the main directions of digital international economic cooperation for the coming years. Head of the International Relations and Innovation Department of the Institute of Control Systems Tofig Babaev, PhD in Engineering, spoke in the 1st session of the webinar. The topic of T.Babaev's presentation was “Digital CAREC: Digital FDI, Regulations, Policies, and Enabling Factors of Investment in Digital Economy. Presentation and Country Profiles of Digital FDI Development in CAREC Region”. T.Babayev participated in the 2022 project on the state of Digital FDI covering 11 countries of the CAREC (Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation: China, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia) region as international consultant.
T.Babayev pointed out that the overall objective of CAREC II research project was developing a policy framework to maximized inflows in digital sectors of the CAREC countries. Here, an investment policy was proposed that addresses all 3 aspects of the digital economy: Digital infrastructure, Digital firms, Wider digital adoption. Information was provided on the design inclusive digital investment policy framework considering demand- and supply-side factors.
He said that according to the study, attracting "digital FDI," or FDI into the digitalization is one of the optimal solutions to address digital divide and ensure long term productivity. Digital economy may require specific policies, regulations, and measures because digital firms have business models that vary from traditional brick-and-mortar businesses. Digital FDI is more vulnerable to policies, regulations, investment climate, and coordination failures.
T.Babayev noted that a joint research project of CI and IsDB on Digital CAREC (Phase 1) on the state of the digital economy in CAREC countries completed in 2020 indicated higher digital divide in Digital FDI, Digital Security, Regulations, Internet Cost, Digital infrastructure, and Internet Quality, implicating the importance of attracting Digital FDI for CAREC countries. T. Babayev also spoke about the methodology and the results within the Digital CAREC II research project. Session 2 featured an open dialogue session with leading international experts from key implementing partner organizations to discuss the relevant issues.
Note that the webinar presented new ideas for further strengthening international partnership and promoting digital economic cooperation processes in the coming years.
