Deputy Minister Ruben Simonyan on a working visit to the Republic of Latvia and Republic of Lithuania

The Deputy Minister of High-Tech Industry of Armenia, Ruben Simonyan, made a working visit to Latvia and Lithuania between 28–30 May 2024. The deputy minister was invited by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).

He met with Ministry and business representatives to discuss digital transformation and support for enterprise.

During the visit, a wide-ranging discussion was made about support available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using digital technologies in their business, about accelerating and simplifying digital transformation in business processes, as well as investment programs, implemented policies, and acting strategic approaches.

Simonyan met with representatives of the state administration of Latvia, namely with officials from the Ministry of Economics and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development. The discussions covered Latvia’s digital transformation strategy and government support for upgrading SMEs’ digitalisation.

The Armenian delegation also visited Latvian technology companies, such as Liko-R, RedFrog, Latvian IT Cluster and the Digital Accelerator of Latvia, as well as the Riga Technical University Science and Innovation Centre (RTU SIC), which supports companies in improving their digital and technological processes.

In Lithuania, Deputy Minister Simonyan met with Ieva Valeškaitė, Vice-Minister of the Economy and Innovation. They discussed Lithuania’s strategic approaches to digitalisation policy and the key provisions of the country’s Digital Decade plan.

During the visit to Lithuania, Simonyan participated in meetings with local companies, such as Litilit, which produces next-generation ultra-short pulse lasers, and the Manufacturing Innovation Valley (Manuvalley) digital innovation hub, which specialises in industry transformation and technological progress and offers a range of services tailored to diverse needs of manufacturing enterprises in Vilnius and Kaunas.

Ruben Simonyan toured the hub with Manuvalley director Gintaras Wildan. He was introduced to the operations, key objectives, services, and programmes designed to help manufacturing enterprises upgrade their technological capabilities.