Bishkek, 9-10 November 2021

PARTNERS

PARTNERS

3rd STRATEGEAST STATE AND IT EURASIAN FORUM

BISHKEK, 9-10 NOVEMBER 2021

The StrategEast State and IT Eurasian Forum is an annual event, held in one of the Eurasian capitals, that serves as a unique platform for dialogue between governments and leaders of the IT industry. The inaugural StrategEast State and IT Eurasian Forum took place in 2019 in Kyiv, Ukraine. In 2020, the second Forum was held in Tbilisi, Georgia, in a hybrid online-offline format. The third StrategEast State and IT Eurasian Forum will be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, with the Lead topic: DEVELOPMENT THROUGH COLLABORATION.

The Forum brings together representatives of global and local tech companies, governments, international financial institutions, and development agencies. It provides an opportunity to discuss what needs to be done to enhance the innovative economy across the region and assists Eurasian countries with their integration into the global economy.

  • Over 50 high-level speakers;
  • Over 150 participants;
  • Informal communication between the government officials and the IT leaders;
  • Plenty of opportunities for networking.

LEAD TOPIC:

DEVELOPMENT THROUGH COLLABORATION

GOALS:

  • To identify common opportunities and challenges of the IT sector in the Eurasian and Baltic countries;
  • To suggest practical solutions to the existing challenges in the fields of legislation, taxation and IPR;
  • To attract international IT companies and venture funds to the potential of the IT industry in the region;
  • To share best practices, experience and knowledge regarding the relations between the government and the IT sector.

PARTICIPANTS:

  • Senior representatives of the USA and the EU governments and state agencies;
  • Senior representatives of the governments of the Eurasian and Baltic states;
  • High-level representatives of the global IT companies, VC funds, investment banks;
  • Heads of IT associations and leaders of the IT sector from the region.

AGENDA (Bishkek time, GMT +6)

NOVEMBER 9: OPENING CEREMONY

16:00 – 16:45
Participants registration
17:00 – 17:30
Opening remarks by Akylbek Japarov, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic
17:30 – 18:00
Coffee Break
18:00 – 19:00
Opening remarks:
Anatoly Motkin, President of StrategEast Center for a New Economy
Dastan Dogoev, Minister of Digital Development of the Kyrgyz Republic
Sonata Coulter, Charge d’Affaires, Head of the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek
Ayten Rustamova, Regional Head of the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
Arkadiy Dobkin, President of EPAM Systems
Keith Krach, Former Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment
19:00 – 20:00
Keynote speech by Sir Suma Chakrabarti, Former President of the EBRD, Adviser to the Presidents of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on economic development and effective governance, Chairman of ODI Global
20:00 – 22:00
Special reception for the forum participants

NOVEMBER 10: PLENARY DAY

09:00 – 10:00
Participants registration & Welcome coffee

Plenary sessions

10:00 – 11:15
Central Asia as a Digital Hub of Eurasia

Moderator: Eric K. Hontz, Deputy Regional Director – Europe and Eurasia, Center for International Private Enterprise

Speakers:

Dastan Dogoev, Minister of Digital Development of the Kyrgyz Republic

Vadil Galiulin, Director of Account Management at Mastercard

(Uzbekistan,Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan)

Rovsen Geldiiev, Head Specialist, Digital Economy Department, Agency for Transport and Communications, Turkmenistan

Elena Krukovskaya, Chief Operations Officer, Exadel

Ayten Rustamova, EBRD Regional Director for Kyrgyz Republic , Tajikistan and Turkmenistan

Elena V. Son, Executive Director, The American-Uzbekistan Chamber of Commerce (AUCC), The US-Kyrgyzstan Business Council (USKGZBC), The US-Tajikistan Business Council (USTJBC), The US-Afghanistan Business Initiative (USABI)

11:30 – 12:45
Global IT Industry in Eurasia

Moderator: Aktilek Tungatarov, Acting Director at AmCham Kyrgyz Republic

Speakers:

Arkadiy Dobkin, President of EPAM Systems
Avtandil Kasradze, Chairman at Georgia’s Innovation and Technology Agency (GITA)
Yevgeny Koren, Country Manager at Microsoft, Belarus
Dmytro Sholomko, Business Development Director, Eastern Europe, Google
Jonathan Tower, General Partner at Catapult VC
Alexey Zakharov, Technology Solutions Senior Manager (Russia, CIS, Central Asia), Oracle Corporation
12:45 – 14:00
Networking lunch

Breakout sessions 14:00 – 14:50

Development of IT Parks in Central Asia

Moderator: Filip Stoyanovich, Chief of Party, USAID’s Future Growth Initiative (FGI) for Central Asia

Speakers:

Pirov Abubakr, Specialist of the department of new technologies, Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of the Republic of Tajikistan

Ana Chirita, Strategic Projects Director, ICT Association of Moldova, Project Director at Tekwill, Moldova

Akshay Mathur, Director of ORF Mumbai, India

Chubak Temirov, Acting Director of the High technology park of the Kyrgyz Republic

Tanat Uskembayev, Director of International Relations, Investments and Export Office at Astana Hub

IT Industry in the Kyrgyz Republic

Moderator: Medet Tairov, Chairman of the Innovations, Information and Digital Technologies Committee at AmCham Kyrgyz Republic

Speakers:

Mitsuhiro Maeda, Professor of Advanced Institute of Industrial Technology, Japan

Tattu Mambetalieva, Director, Civil Initiative on Internet Policy, the Kyrgyz Republic

Dinara Ruslan, Founder and CEO, Codify LMS

Natalia Sitnikov, Economic Officer at the U.S. Embassy, Bishkek

Aziz Soltobaev, Executive Chairman KG Labs Public Foundation

Breakout sessions 15:00 – 15:50

New Taxes for New Economy

Moderator: Anatoly Motkin, President , StrategEast Center for a New Economy

Speakers:

Oleksandr Bornyakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine

Kubanychbek Isabekov, Head of the Tax Policy Department at the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Kyrgyz Republic

Marine Khurtsidze, Head of Tax and Customs Policy Department, Ministry of Finance of Georgia

Rakhim Oshakbayev, Director at TALAP center for applied research

Daniel Witt, President, International Tax and Investment Center

Smart Fintech Solutions

Moderator: Max Gurvits, USAID’s FGI consultant for National VC Fund – UzVC, Managing Partner, Vitosha Venture Partners

Speakers:

Oguz Aslan, Management Consultant at Mastercard Advisors

Timur Shalekenov, Head of Fintech, BTS Digital LLP, Kazakhstan

Natia Gvazava, CLO Identomat

Bekzhan Mutanov,  Deputy CEO of the AIFC Tech Hub

Abdulaziz Sattarov, Founder, UNIRED and Fintech Innovation Hub

15:50 – 16:10
Coffee break

Breakout sessions 16:10 – 17:00

Startups Acceleration: Route to Silicon Valley

Moderator: Chris Burry, Co-CEO at the US Market Access Center

Speakers:

Edil Ajibaev, Founder of PicVPic

Shirin Mukanbetova, Executive Manager, Kyrgyz Software and Services Developers Association
Mansur Mamadjanov, Co-founder and Business Development Manager at Redesign.uz
Daniil Maykovskiy, CMCPartner, New Business Director MCT Agency. Business Development Solutions Turkmenistan
Andre Tikhomirov, Managing Partner at Kolos Ventures, Belarus

New Education for the New Economy

Moderator: Viktoria Petrova, Head of Exploration – UNDP Accelerator Labs

Speakers:

Farhod Boboev, Farhod Boboev, Deputy Director SUE “Smart City” under Executive State Authority of Dushanbe city

Professor Sohail H. Naqvi, the Rector of the University of Central Asia (UCA)

Oleg Yakimchuk, Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy Google Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyz Republic

Lilit Yezekyan, Research Director at the Caucasus Research and Resource Center, Armenia Foundation

Nurzhamal Yrysbekova, Project Manager of Techaim and Project Lead or Khan Academy Kyrgyz Project

Vadim Zelenkov, Training and Development Director at EPAM Systems

Breakout sessions 17:10 – 18:00

Blockchain as a Good Governance Technology

Moderator: Altynbek Ismailov, Ex-Chairman of the State Committee of Information Technology and Communications of Kyrgyz Republic (2020-2021)

Speakers:

Silver Kelk, Business Development Manager, Guardtime Estonia

Mariam Turashvili, Head of Project Management and Sales Service, National Agency of Public Registry

Vasyl’ Zadvornyy, CEO at Prozorro, Ukraine

Inclusive Development of Eurasian Tech

Moderator: Nikolay Yarmov, Senior AmCham Advisor USAID’s FGI Project

Speakers:

Kate Bunina, Managing Director, USMAC and Program Director at Prospera Women 

Elena Chigibaeva, Co-Founder and Project Manager at Public Foundation Techaim Kyrgyz Republic

Valeriya Ionan, Deputy Minister for Eurointegration at Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine

Natia Kapanadze, Gender and Youth Expert, the USAID Economic Security Program

Asel Kubanychbekova, Regional Coordinator for the WAGE Project in Central Asia – CIPE Europe & Eurasia

Special session (co-hosted by The World Bank and UNDP) 18:00

How Can Eurasia Reap the Data Dividends: Opportunities for Data-Driven Transformation

MODERATOR : Louise Chamberlain, Resident Representative in Kyrgyz Republic, UNDP

CO-MODERATOR : Oleg Petrov, Senior Digital Development Specialist, World Bank

Part 1. Opening and Keynotes:

18:00 – 18:05 Welcome and Introduction by Louise Chamberlain and Oleg Petrov

18:05 – 18:10 Welcome Remarks by Dastan Dogoev, Minister of Digital Development, the Kyrgyz Republic

18:10– 18:40 Keynote presentations:

World Bank Development Report 2021 “Data for Better Lives” by Vivien Foster, Chief Economist for Infrastructure, World Bank

Experience and Vision of Korea on Data-Driven Transformation by Jong-Sung Hwang, Lead researcher at the National Information Society Agency, Korea

Part 2. Panel discussion:

18:40 – 19:30 How Can Eurasian countries Reap the Data Dividends and Accelerate Data-Driven Transformation: Key Priorities and Next Steps

Speakers (TBC):

Olga Tumuruс, Head of the Electronic Governance Agency of the Republic of Moldova

Olexander Bornyakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, Ukraine

Askar Zhambakin, Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Kazakhstan

Tamerlan Taghiyev, Acting Head of the Center for Analysis and Coordination of the Fourth Industrial Revolution under the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan

LOCATION

Hyatt Regency Bishkek

191 Abdrahmanov Street, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 720011

StrategEast is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in the United States with regional offices in Ukraine and Georgia.

The mission of StrategEast Center for a New Economy is the development of a new economy in the countries of Eurasia through the transition from a natural-resource-based to a knowledge-driven economy.

Our work is focused on the 14 countries, which proclaimed or restored their independence following the collapse of the USSR: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

For more information about StrategEast State and IT Eurasian Forum 2019 in Kyiv:
https://newforum.strategeast.org/strategeast-state-and-it-eurasian-forum-2019

For more information about StrategEast State and IT Eurasian Forum 2020 in Tbilisi:
https://newforum.strategeast.org/forum-2020-summary

USAID’s Future Growth Initiative spurs productive economic activity across Central Asia, with the goal of increasing local competitiveness, creating new jobs, and improving incomes for Central Asia’s growing workforce https://www.facebook.com/FGICentralAsia.

CONTACTS

Head Office

office@strategeast.org

1900 K Street, NW
Suite 100
Washington, D.C. 20006

Praskovja Bystrova (general coordination) 

praskovja.bystrova@strategeast.org

Stanislav Kovalchuk (local coordination)

forum@strategeast.org