This is the final part of the comprehensive training of specialists who, in the near future, will start working in 17 countries: Argentina, Armenia, Vietnam, Morocco, Egypt, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, the UAE, Pakistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, the RSA, Cuba, China, and Thailand.
Besides representatives of the Center for Global IT-Cooperation, experts of the UNIDO Center for International Industrial Cooperation in the Russian Federation, Education Center for Digital Transformation Teams and CDTOs of the Graduate School of Public Management of RANEPA, International Research Institute for Advanced Systems, ANO Digital Productivity Technologies, and the e-legion company also held lectures for training participants. First Vice Rector of MIPT Elena Anokhova greeted them with a welcome speech.
The idea of creating a “digital ambassador,” or “digital attache,” service in Russia first emerged in 2019. In September 2021, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin approved the so-called second package of measures to support the IT industry, in which the establishment of the digital attache service was mentioned, among other things. One of its goals is to support Russian IT companies entering foreign markets and encourage foreign IT companies to become subject to the Russian jurisdiction. Attaches must provide Russian IT companies with consulting, information, analytical, legal, and organizational support in the countries where the service will have a presence. The Digital Ministry, Ministry of Industry and Trade and RITDF are responsible for establishing the service.
The program prepared for training participants included lectures on relevant topics, such as the goals of digital attaches in the countries of assignment in view of topical priority development directions of the domestic electronics industry and ICT sector, Russia’s role in international organizations, and the legal basis for international cooperation. Speakers paid special attention to Russia’s position on the key questions of the IT industry’s evolution, including that of creating international multilateral instruments, such as the Global Digital Compact.
International IT cooperation is one of the most promising self-actualization tracks, Director of the Center for Global IT-Cooperation Vadim Glushchenko noted. “Digital attaches can and should become the promoters of the best Russian IT solutions globally. They will also have to carry out other complicated tasks: restoring money transfers to foreign countries in present circumstances by using alternative payment methods, attracting foreign companies with the equipment needed to the Russian market in a short period of time, and building trusting partnerships with members of local IT communities. Launching this broad program, we start with the countries that are most friendly toward Russia, but it is the very first step, and I am confident that in the future, the service will only expand its geography. Taking the first step is always hard, but if our first digital attaches are successful, in ten years the phrase ‘a Russian international IT company’ will be the rule rather than the exception,” he concluded.
