In recent months, the interest of specialists from CIS countries in relocating IT startups to Central Asia has increased. We have studied how the countries of the region react to the increased flow of incoming specialists from the area of high technology.
A number of countries have recently begun to create programs to support valuable specialists and businesses in the IT field. The reasons for this are obvious – the area of high technologies has been developing by leaps and bounds in recent years and brings enormous revenues to the state treasury.
And so, in Uzbekistan, back in 2019, an IT Park was created, a technology hub that provides wide range of opportunities for specialists and businesses. The goals of the creation of the Park are the development of human capital and the economy, increasing exports in the area of high technologies and the subsequent transformation of Uzbekistan into a technological state.
Thus, the IT Park of Uzbekistan has launched a special TashRush program to attract IT professionals and companies specializing in the area of high technologies. The hub helps foreign specialists to adapt after moving, as well as to get a job in the resident companies of the technopark. According to the relocants, IT Park consultants help not only with working issues, but also with everyday problems – finding housing, kindergartens and schools, receiving medical care and etc.
Other countries in the region also create attractive conditions for foreign professionals. This way, the Government of Kazakhstan has been working for several years to attract highly qualified specialists.
This is stated by the experts of the Astana hub Technology Park and the Astana International Financial Center. They note that the arrival of new specialists allows to enrich the IT culture, create competitive products and develop a startup environment.
Sabir Niyazov, Director of the IT hub “Terriconovaya Dolina”, emphasized in an interview with Tengrinews that Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are currently leaders in the field of IT in Central Asia. Niyazov noted that Kazakhstan now has all the conditions for creating its own Silicon Valley, but there is also a problem of employee shortage, which can be solved just by recently arriving IT specialists.
The Kyrgyz government is also following the regional trend in the development of the IT sector. President of the RK Sadyr Zhaparov directed to develop a program to support the digital nomads. The «Bishkek» Economic Zone and the Hi-Tech Park are developing in the country. Recently arrived specialists and businesses who wish to become residents can receive tax and other facilities in the Park.
The area of high technologies is also developing in Tajikistan – in February 2022, it was decided to build an IT Park in Dushanbe by analogy with neighboring Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
No information could be found about any relocation and support programs for the IT sector in Turkmenistan. It is noted that the country is unlikely to compete with neighboring states in IT development by attracting foreign specialists.
Firstly, Turkmenistan maintains extremely low Internet speed (the last place in the world in this indicator). Secondly, it is extremely difficult for even highly qualified specialists to get into the country due to the specific visa policy of the state. Whether the situation will change in the coming years is unknown, but it is clear that the simplification of visa procedures for valuable specialists could have a positive impact on the development of the country’s economy.
The digest is written on the basis of sources:
https://mediazona.ca/article/2022/04/29/itpark
https://tengrinews.kz/article/aytishniki-rossii-belarusi-rasskazali-pochemu-vyibrali-1764/
https://asiaplustj.info/ru/news/tajikistan/20220324/pochemu-rossiiskie-it-spetsialisti-ne-edut-v-tadzhikistan