Tajikistan intends to build IT parks at a time when the Internet in the country is the slowest and most expensive in the region. Local experts say that the creation of IT parks for the development of youth startup projects requires amendments to the legislation and the provision of benefits, including tax benefits.
The authorities of Tajikistan are currently studying the experience of other countries – Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in creating IT parks, it was said at an online conference in Dushanbe organized by the University of Central Asia and StrategEast.
IT-park is a technology park operating in the field of information technology. A place where active and talented people turn their ideas into real business projects due to the availability of modern technical infrastructure, financial and scientific support. In world practice, a technopark is a modern form of integration of science and production, which was created to accelerate the development and application of the latest scientific, technical and information technology achievements.
“To create IT parks, first of all, we need a legal framework and finances,” said Avtandil Kasradze, chairman of the Agency for Innovation and Technology of Georgia. According to him, technology parks should be created where there are many higher educational institutions. “In Georgia, before starting the creation of IT parks, tax rates in the field of information technology were reduced from 20 to 5 percent. This attracted the attention of global IT companies that financed the project, and the International Monetary Fund and a number of large US shopping centers became interested in programs created in our IT parks,” Kasradze said.
Farhod Bilolzoda, Deputy Minister of Industry and New Technologies of Tajikistan, noted that the department is already studying Georgia’s experience in creating technology parks. “Currently, a new draft of the Tax Code of Tajikistan is being discussed. I think that all conditions have been created in the country to support the information technology sector. Both the authorities and private business are interested in the development of this sphere,” Bilolzoda emphasized.
