Digitalization in Central Asia: Progress and Potential

All Central Asian governments have defined their digital agenda and are working on penetrating digital services at all levels. In addition to ongoing digital transformation, the pandemic impacted the fostering of digitalization in Central Asia. The pandemic coincided with a period when Central Asian states were already transforming their services to a different extent. As a result, the combination of the comprehensive digital transformation and the effects of the pandemic prompted some Central Asian governments to reevaluate and others to speed up their digital aspirations. Accordingly, Central Asian states have significantly advanced their digital technology in various facets of their economy, business, and government despite their moderate regional position on a global scale. Against this backdrop, the chapter aims to assess the digitalization efforts of Central Asian states by analysing their national digital strategies, digital priorities, the level of penetration of e-government services, and progress in the development of ICT infrastructure. The chapter intends to critically analyse the state of the art of digital transformation in Central Asia using cross-country analysis and recommendations for accelerating digitalization efforts. The chapter concludes with the finding that Central Asian governments still need to allocate more funding to upgrade their infrastructure and work on eliminating state and regional connectivity barriers.