Friday, 4 March 2005
Today the Information Technologies Support Council (ITSC) has held a meeting at the Office of Government, which was presided at by Prime Minister A. Margaryan, Chairman of the Council.
The Council reviewed the progress in the fulfilment of the assignments given at the previous meeting, the 2004 report on ITSC's activities, the individual composition of the Council formed on a rotational basis etc.
With reference to agenda item 1, Armen Grigoryan, Secretary of the Council, reported that the quasi-totality of about a dozen of assignments given at the previous meeting had been fulfilled. In particular, RA Minister of Transport and Communications A. Manoukyan has submitted a proposal to the Prime Minister on the liberalization of the 2,4 HHz frequency band. Chairman of "IT Fund' NGO Garegin Chougasizyan, who is responsible for Armenia's participation in the Information Society World Summit Prize Award, has forwarded to the Office of Government the program of activities in preparation of the pan-Armenian contest of electronic contents on the 1600th anniversary of the Armenian alphabet to include it in the Plan of Action under development by the Organizing Commission for the 1600th anniversary of the creation of Armenian letters. The discussions of ITSC's proposals concerning the establishment of a steering committee for coordination of the IT sector had been continued so as to take a final decision on the matter. Yuri Shoukuryan, head of the Council's working group for Science and Education, provided the results of the tests of OpenOffice.org application and suggested that the software was fit for general use.
Also, Mr. A. Grigoryan briefed the Council on the 2004 IT developments in Armenia and delivered the annual report on ITSC's activities. He indicated that the ITs had become a quick-progressing and prospective field in our country, especially as for software provision and relevant services. According to him, this was partly due to the establishment of a number of software development centers by western investors in Armenia. Further impetus for the field's rapid development had been the priority focus placed thereon by the Armenian government and the design of the main strategy for ITs development. At the same time, according to the speaker, the failure to liberalize the sector was a serious impediment for its full development. Mr. Grigoryan mentioned that the annual growth of ITs in Armenia had averaged 30% in the past few years to reach the mark of USD 50mln in turnover in 2004. Armenian IT products are exported to over 20 countries of the world with the bulk of them being destined to the U.S.A. and Canada
