Belarus ahead of India, USA in export of IT services per capita

In 2013 Belarus was ahead of the internationally recognized IT leaders — India and the USA — in the export of computer services per capita. The relevant statistics has been published by the website of the World Trade Organization, BelTA has learned.

In 2013 Belarus’ export of computer services was close to $60 per capita while the figure was $41 in India and $36 in the USA.

“The figures are a logical result of the support that the state provides to IT companies. All the conditions have been enabled in Belarus for the successful development of such companies. The education system that trains highly qualified specialists has to do a lot with it. A quality telecommunication infrastructure has been organized in Belarus, too. And certainly the favorable legal base, including taxation laws, plays its part,” First Deputy Information Technologies and Communications Minister Dmitry Shedko told BelTA.

All in all, in 2013 Belarus exported $552 million worth of computer services. Although many countries boast much higher figures ($2.508 billion in Russia and $2.151 billion in Denmark), they demonstrate a deficit of the foreign trade in IT services ($400 million in Russia and $225 million in Denmark) because they have their software products developed abroad or the countries vigorously buy and assimilate imported solutions.

In 2013 Belarus had a surplus of the foreign trade in computer services in excess of $480 million. “It means that as we assimilate modern technologies, we rely primarily on our own resources and are independent of transnational corporations, which is a concern for our Russian colleagues, for example,” explained Dmitry Shedko.

Among the Customs Union countries only Belarus has a surplus of the foreign trade in computer services and the country has been increasing the figure for the last five years. In 2009 the surplus was $121.5 million. The figure was $172.1 million in 2010, $227.6 million in 2011, $352.1 million in 2012, and $480 million in 2013.

“It is important to understand that these figures represent the work of thousands of people. It is not some one-time project. The figures represent a systemic approach, the professionalism of Belarusian programmers, which is held in high esteem across the globe. Belarus consistently moves towards the top of the global ranking. In the last few years our country has been gaining not only in the export of computer services but also in other positions in the IT industry. There are all reasons to believe that in 2015 Belarus will become one of the top 30 countries with a high level of development of information and communication technologies,” stressed the First Deputy Information Technologies and Communications Minister.

The Hi-Tech Park of Belarus is a major provider of computer services. In 2013 it exported $446.7 million worth of computer services or over 80% of the country’s total. In H1 2014 the HTP exported $246.1 million worth of software and services.

“By creating the Hi-Tech Park, Belarus managed to get a fully-developed software development industry within a comparatively short period of time, about nine years. The industry is already spoken of not only in Belarus but across the globe. In this period we managed to outpace many countries in the export of computer services per capita. For instance, according to Forbes data, in 2009 Belarus was behind India in the export of computer services per capita. Now we are ahead of both India and the USA,” BelTA learned from Director of the Hi-Tech Park Administration Valery Tsepkalo.

Valery Tsepkalo stressed that Belarusian IT companies are now popular not only as professional business to business (B2B) model developers. “We now offer the business to consumers model. I mean products that sell a lot of copies. As an example I can mention Viber and World of Tanks. Apalon Company is our rising star at present. Its developers make products that target mass consumers. While the B2B model doesn’t add to the brand, it is less recognized, the B2C model heavily adds to the brand and the value of the company and its products. We are proud of it. For instance, India has not created a single internationally recognized B2C model product while the country’s export of computer services was close to $50 billion in 2013,” noted the head of the HTP administration.

The executive underlined that the key task of the administration of the Hi-Tech Park is to create an optimal environment for the development of companies, which operation involves information and communication technologies. “For instance, what is special about the Silicon Valley? It has created a certain environment with a high concentration of specialists in a certain field. If a person has some idea, he or she can always find a partner that will help implement the idea. As far as the Hi-Tech Park is concerned, I believe that the creation of such an environment proceeds at rather a good pace. A certain explosion has already happened when projects like Viber and World of Tanks emerged on the market. We believe that in the HTP environment many companies and projects will be born and will become at least as internationally recognized as those in the Silicon Valley,” noted the Director of the HTP Administration.