Bakytzhan Sagintayev presented the Digital Union concept for digital integration in the EAEU

A plenary session of the Eurasian Economic Forum on the topic ‘Digitalisation in modern realities - an imperative for ensuring the four freedoms’ was held in Yerevan.  Heads of governments of the Eurasian Economic Union member states were the event's main speakers.

The forum was also attended by guests of honour - Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulla Aripov and First Vice President of Iran Mohammad-Reza Aref.

Bakytzhan Sagintayev, Chairman of the EEC Collegium, presented the Commission's vision for digitalisation processes within the EAEU.

"Based on the successful practice of national governments and the capabilities of the integrated information system, we have proposed the Digital Union concept. The goal is to demonstrate the real benefits of Eurasian economic integration for our peoples and businesses while respecting the digital sovereignty of all member states,' he declared.

The concept has been agreed with the relevant agencies of the EAEU countries responsible for digitalisation. Bakytzhan Sagintayev highlighted three fundamental principles of the Concept, which do not affect the country's digital sovereignty. The first principle is the compatibility of regulatory and infrastructural solutions so that no changes to national digital platforms will be required. The second is synchronisation and the possibility of seamless interaction of national digital platforms. The third is integration, aiming to digitalise all four freedoms at the scale and pace that Member States are willing to; each country can connect to elements of the common platform as needed.

These principles will unite the best national solutions in digitalisation and create conditions for their scaling up. Another important aspect is the elaboration of a mutually recognised system of identification and authentication of citizens and legal entities of the EAEU states without data transfer. A pilot project on mutual recognition of such systems is already being implemented by the EEC together with Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan is in the process of joining it.

‘We will continue to realise the competitive advantage of the Eurasian Economic Commission by ensuring cross-border information interaction taking into account the interests of all countries,’ Bakytzhan Sagintayev stressed.