ARMENIA AHEAD OF AZERBAIJAN IN IT SECTOR'S COMPETITION
07-08-2007 21:30:00 | Armenia | Economy
YEREVAN, AUGUST 7, NOYAN TAPAN. Although Azerbaijan
suspasses Armenia in terms of accessibility of telecommunication
resources, the latter is ahead by IT sector's technological
potential and the presence of the world's leading IT companies
in Armenia. The director of Synopsys Armenia company Hovik
Musaelian stated this at the August 7 press conference.
In the opinion of the USIAD Competitive Armenian Private
Sector (CAPS) Program IT cluster head, IT Foundation's chairman
G. Chugaszian, Armenia has some advantages in this competition:
the activities of Diasporan Armenians in the IT sector, as well
as the traditions of developing IT sector in Armenia which have
formed over the past 50 years. According to him, Azerbaijan
incurs considerable expenses, particularly in the
telecommunication sector, but Armenia surpasses Azerbaijan in
terms of production capacities of its IT industry. But this
advantage may disappear because free economic zones have been
cretaed in Azerbaijan, and Armenia should also take steps in
this direction.
G. Chugaszian said that Eastern European, in particular
South Caucasian countries are competing in the IT sector. Steps
aimed at promoting this sector are being taken in Russia,
Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia.
Azerbaijan has become such a country in recent years, starting
to make substantial investments in IT at the expense of oil
revenues.