The Deputy Minister of Communications said that the growth of the ICT sector in the economy has been 19.2 percent in different years, which is far from the growth of the entire economy, but even so, this amount is not enough for the leap of the digital economy
According to Iran digital economy annotation, Reza Bagheri Asl, the Deputy of Government, Parliament and Provincial Affairs of the Ministry of Communications, said at the review meeting of the 7th program focused on the digital economy, which was held at the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, that the average share of the digital economy in GDP in the world is over 15 percent. In Iran, this amount is 7.9%, and we have a great job to fill this gap. It is not enough to electrify other sectors of the economy and the digital economy cake itself must be enlarged.
He mentioned the case of China, which has achieved a 44% share of the digital economy and a 98% fiber optic connection.
Regarding the growth of the ICT sector in different years, Bagheri Asl said: In the years of implementation of the development programs after the revolution, the growth of the ICT sector was on average 19.2%, which is much higher than the entire economy, but if we want to jump, this amount is still is low.
The Deputy Minister of Communications also explained about the goals of the 7th Development Plan: In 2015, the share of the digital economy was about 4.32. Our target was 15% of the GDP by the end of the program, which the parliament raised to 10% of the GDP.
He also said about one of the rulings of the 7th plan regarding the drafting of an artificial intelligence document: Drafting of an artificial intelligence document is an issue over which there are many disputes and many departments are involved in the process of doing it.
The vice-chairman of the digital economy special working group also criticized the private sector for participating in the preparation of the 7th plan: last year, we had a meeting with the trade union to consult about the 7th plan, and only 25 people showed up. In the next meeting, I said I will come to you, only 5 people came there.
Disparity of guilds is harmful
Ali Hakim Javadi, the new head of the Computer Trade Union Organization of Tehran, also said in this meeting:
“I believe that the most important issue in the digital economy is changing the mindset of managers. We cannot do anything unless we cooperate with the private sector. Today, I have been separated from the government sector for more than 10 years, but now I think this dependence should increase. In spite of many slogans, friends pass resolutions that make the public sector a competitor of the private sector. One of the groups is creating a company to take large national projects to itself.”
He said about the goals of the development plans: In China, I told their infrastructure minister that our fifth plan seeks a series of goals. He said you are way ahead of us, a third of these are not in our plans.
Hakim Javadi criticized government interference: Last night, one of the governing groups said that identity verification should only be done through our channel. We force the private sector to invest, but there is no guarantee of support. Yesterday, one of Digikala’s shareholders told me that they informed us that you don’t have the right to advertise foreign products from the first day of March.
President Nasr of Tehran continued: The first condition of digital transformation is to transform the processes. Today, many permits are required for economic activity. Do we need all of them? We have a lot of problems in the regulatory sector, and each device does not fall under the regulatory burden of other sectors.
He also said about the multitude of trade unions: Today we have all kinds of unions, centers, guilds and organizations. This disunity seriously harms everyone. Sometimes we protest somewhere about a decision, but they say that a certain guild or association has agreed. The organization of the computer trade union system is a powerful trade union organization that was formed according to the law and is 20 years old. Of course, after this period, the organization’s statutes need to be amended.
The seventh program seeks to solve the concern of governance
Afshin Kolahi, the head of the Assembly of Knowledge-Based Organizations, also criticized the 7th plan in this meeting: I was hoping that the 7th plan would have a specific model. I was happy to see that all the patterns were checked, but you can’t rely on all of them.
He continued: Friends say that the work will not progress without the cooperation of the private sector. At all, the program should be written for the private sector. There is a big gap between the paradigm of the government and the private sector.
This member of the Tehran Chamber also said: Is the digital economy the centerpiece of the program or not? Is there an intention to develop the digital economy? In the 7th program, the government’s concern is seen more. When talking about the National Information Network and social networks, it seems that the program was written to solve the concerns of the government.
Kolahi also reacted to Hakim Javadi’s words about trade unions: Regarding organizations, I believe that restrictions do not work in any field, and organizations cannot be gathered, but the wise thing is to align them. In recent years, the Tehran Chamber has done this well. Because of the tools that the room has at its disposal, it can play a more colorful role in this field.
Maziar Nourbakhsh, head of the Innovation and Productivity Transformation Commission of the Tehran Chamber, also said: The level of realization of previous development plans has not been successful. This is the case with many laws, for example, the Law of Improvement, only 59% of business environment laws have been implemented.
Nourbakhsh continued: How can we reach the target of 15% of the digital economy when we have problems in the basis of the digital economy, i.e. the Internet, and we are lagging behind the world. Censorship, filtering and not having access to many basic tools are among the problems of today’s Internet.
Programs are left in the galaxy of rules
Mohammad Ghasemi, head of the research center of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, addressed the problems of development programs in Iran and said: In Iran, a plan is drawn up, but no one waits for its implementation, and it is left in the galaxy of the country’s laws. If there are really areas of the program related to the private sector, the private sector itself should look for it. You should not wait for the program execution performance report. It is a pity that these papers are spent on these administrative reports.
He further said: In 2014, a plan was defined about the frameworks of the knowledge-based economy. I carried out a part of the project entitled Political Legal Foundations of Knowledge-Based Economy. There we came to the conclusion that our most important problem is the construction of governance in this area. In countries where there is a clear and correct program in this regard, the legal foundations of the knowledge-based economy are based on four specific foundations, and the relationship of these legal foundations is quite clear, but here, when we were writing the laws, we had a lack of theory.
This economist warned: If we do not understand the turning point in history, which is called the fourth industrial revolution, we will fall back for decades. As during the transition from the 18th to the 19th and from the 19th to the 20th century, the rulers made mistakes and we fell behind. The poverty of this area can lead to the country’s poverty and its growth can lead to the country’s progress.
No Comment! Be the first one.