On October 7, 2019, in Yerevan, Armenia, the Government of Armenia and the Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) in partnership with United Nations Development Program (UNDP) held a high-level side event titled “Harnessing the Power of Technology for Impact: BSEC Perspective on Regional Collaboration” on the margins of the 23rd World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) - a major annual international IT conference.

The event brought together high-level Government Officials from BSEC Member States including Ministers and Deputy Ministers in charge of ICT sector, BSEC PERMIS Secretary General, representatives of Municipalities, Development Agencies, Business Communities, Research and Educational Institutions and Civil Society from BSEC Region to discuss on how to bring innovative technology to serve public policy making for greater impact and leverage collective expertise for systemic change and development solutions, which can be replicated across the BSEC region and beyond.

Welcoming the participants Armenia’s Ministry of High-Tech Industry Mr. Hakob Arshakyan particularly stated that concerted and joint efforts at the national, regional and international levels are needed to build technological capabilities and support all forms of innovation, technological, entrepreneurial, social and institutional by promoting cooperation among public policy-makers, tech and business communities and international organizations for the benefit of the people in BSEC countries.

Panelists elaborated on their experiences and best practices in bringing innovative technology to serve public policy making and offer sustainable development solutions and discussed the regional and global trends in the impact investment and tech ecosystems and reinventing public policy in national and regional context, utilizing data, technologies and innovation.

Information: Armenia, a founding member of the Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation, is the current country-coordinator of the BSEC Working Group on Information and Communication Technology. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Permanent Mission of Armenia to BSEC  have supported the organization of the said high-level side event.