The Belarusian leader continues his working visit to the
Persian Gulf region. After productive talks in Oman, Alexander Lukashenko went
to the United Arab Emirates.
The President's agenda includes a number of business
meetings and the development of bilateral contacts. Today, Alexander Lukashenko
held talks with the UAE Minister of Investment, Executive Director of the ADQ
investment fund Mohammed Hassan Al-Suwaidi. The United Arab Emirates is one of
our key partners in the Middle East. Investors in this country are well
acquainted with the opportunities and prospects of Belarus, and business
relations are traditionally built on mutually beneficial terms. The
conversation with the UAE Minister of Investment was about the development of
artificial intelligence.
Recalling his previous visits to the Emirates, meetings and
presentations on the development of the high-tech sector, Alexander Lukashenko
said that Belarus' success in the field of IT technologies partly began in the
UAE: "I remember that meeting when your and Chinese specialists very
seriously immersed me in this area, and we began to think about creating an IT
Park in Belarus."
"Our first steps in certain social networks primarily
in TikTok began here. From here, I remember when your specialists (including
Chinese ones at that time) invited me again to a presentation, where they
talked a lot about the development of the high-tech sector and really asked me
to contribute to the development of TikTok in Belarus," the Head of State
noted.
At one time, a general discussion was also held here about
the prospects of artificial intelligence. "They said that this, damn it,
artificial intelligence will soon take over the whole world. And I personally
had little confidence in this. It turned out that your specialists were right,"
Alexander Lukashenko stated.
"I am absolutely sure that today's meeting will end
with a good, some kind of good beginning for the economy, for the people of
Belarus," the President said. - The topic of my interest is artificial
intelligence and its development. Namely, development. Not the beginning. This
is important for us, as it is for the whole world. And I am very grateful to
you for the fact that you gladly agreed to share your knowledge and experience
in the development of artificial intelligence with your Ministry and the
experience of those specialists who are working on this problem."
The head of state said that he would do everything to
promote and develop this topic in Belarus: "The basis, the base, the
people for this are there. This is the story of today's meeting. I hope for the
future."
In turn, Mohammed Hassan Al Suwaidi, UAE Minister of
Investment, Executive Director of the ADQ investment fund, noted that over the
past 5 years, technology development has moved even faster than expected.
"So fast that even our companies cannot keep up with the vision of
advanced trends in the field of artificial intelligence. But with people like
Sheikh Tahnoun, National Security Advisor, who led this vision of artificial
intelligence in the UAE, he sets such a pace for us that in the next 5 years we
will be leaders in the implementation of AI," he said.
The Minister also shared with the Head of the Belarusian
state up-to-date information on modern trends in the development of artificial
intelligence and the tools needed to advance in this direction.
Also today, Alexander Lukashenko held talks with the
management of companies working in the field of high technology, including artificial
intelligence.
