YEREVAN. – There is some progress in digitalization in Armenia, representative of the e-GovArmenia Consortium Satenik Mnatsakanyan said during the Business Innovation Forum 2019.

For many years the digitalization process was underway with the use of international grants and loans. So, real work was carried out in Armenia, but 80% of the funds were paid to international experts, and  systems manufactured outside the country were used.

“In this environment we cannot be sure of the security of our systems, especially in the case of closed codes,” Mnatsakanyan said.

She added that there is some progress, because thanks to cooperation with the National Security Service, 20-hour hackathons are organized, and their main purpose is to identify gaps in existing systems.

Despite numerous many examples of using open codes in government systems, Armenian specialists have not yet managed to convince the authorities to change their approach.

Opening discussions of the State Strategy for the Development of High-Tech Industry and Digitalization, Mnatsakanyan noted that they plan to achieve three main goals by 2021. Firstly, ensure the existence of an effective, flexible, controlled and transparent public procurement system, secondly, state standards of electronic control systems, as well as a system that protects the interests of the domestic producer and in parallel forms a competitive environment in the market.