UAE, Uzbekistan Launch 'One Million Uzbek Coders' Initiative

International partnerships are key to shaping the future of governmental processes, said Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and The Future.

Al Gergawi made the remarks as the head of the UAE delegation to the launch of the 'One Million Uzbek Coders' initiative at Inha University in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

"Building international partnerships for shaping the future of governments is a key pillar in the UAE's approach, under the wise leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces," Al Gergawi said.

Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, Abdulla Aripov, launched the One Million Uzbek Coders project, which aims to train local programmers.

A large-scale project, the One Million Uzbek Coders is a free distance learning course in four IT specialties.

The UAE government, having mulled the prospects of transferring the initiative to Uzbekistan, developed a plan to adapt the concept to the country's conditions and launched an initiative at the local level.

The project is being implemented by the Uzbek Ministry for Development of Information Technologies and Communications in cooperation with the Dubai Future Foundation, Inha University in Tashkent, and Tashkent University of Information Technologies named after Muhammad al-Khwarizmi.

Uzbek media reports quoted Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, as saying in a speech during the launch, "We live in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution - the era of new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, blockchain and 5G. According to expert monitoring, by 2022, 60 percent of global GDP will be digitized, and more than half of the security problems will be eliminated through artificial perception. I believe that the language of the future is not the language of any nation, but rather a general programming language."

Al Olama noted that since 2015, more than seven million vacancies have been created across the IT industry.

"Today, job growth in this sector is 12 percent ahead of the average market. Demand for programmers is growing day by day. There are 800,000 programmers required only in the countries of the European Union. With the help of initiatives such as One Million Arab Coders and One Million Uzbek Coders, we intend to fill this global demand and train qualified personnel for the professions of the future. The aim of the One Million Uzbek Coders initiative is to create opportunities for the youth of your country to fully demonstrate their talent and potential, and develop human capital and support Uzbekistan in the form of sustaining economic growth," Olama added.

The initiative is part of agreements reached between the UAE and Uzbekistan in several areas, including in the IT industry.