Tashkent hosts GSMA M360 as Eurasia's digital economy grows
The choice of Tashkent as host city reflects Uzbekistan's rising profile as a regional digital leader. Since launching wide-ranging reforms in 2017, the country has opened up its economy, encouraged foreign investment, and promoted innovation in the tech sector. Today, Uzbekistan is home to more than 9,700 ICT companies and 200,000 tech professionals, with services exported to 90 countries and a total turnover of €4.1 billion.
'Uzbekistan has undergone one of the most successful transformations in the world,' Kaan Terzioğlu, CEO of VEON, said. 'With a population of 40 million and over one million babies born every year, the country is demographically strong and full of potential.'
Vivek Badrinath, Director General of GSMA, stressed the broader economic impact of mobile sector growth. 'A $1 increase in the mobile economy generates $6 in GDP. When governments create investment-friendly environments and key sectors like banking or transport integrate mobile tech, the benefits are shared by all,' he said.
A key highlight of the summit is the unveiling of the Kazakh Large Language Model, developed through a partnership between Kazakh researchers, QazCode, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, and the GSMA Foundry. The AI model supports Kazakh, Turkish, English, and Russian, addressing a crucial gap in local language technologies.
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan continues to encourage innovation through initiatives like the Presidential $1 million tech award, aimed at supporting start-ups and digital entrepreneurship. Sherzod Shermatov, Minister of Digital Technologies, pointed to recent app launches that integrate IT, tourism, and business services - generating over 2,000 international user interactions in just one week.
Neighbouring Kazakhstan is also advancing its digital infrastructure. Zhaslan Madiyev, Minister of Digital Development, Innovations, and Aerospace Industry, emphasised the country's commitment to AI and digital infrastructure saying, 'We are building our AI ecosystem with initiatives such as the creation of a national AI Center. This center will support research, education, and startups, playing a crucial role in nurturing the entire ecosystem.'
Despite advances some challenges remain. According to the GSMA, around 80 million people in Eurasia remain offline, despite having mobile network coverage. Addressing this "usage gap" will be key to ensuring inclusive digital growth across the region.
GSMA initiatives such as its collaboration with IBM — offering members access to the Watsonx.ai platform — and joint efforts with the European Space Agency on Non-Terrestrial Networks, aim to enhance connectivity and bridge the digital divide.
As Tashkent takes the spotlight during M360 Eurasia, Uzbekistan positions itself as a key player in shaping the region's digital future — one increasingly defined by innovation, inclusion, and international cooperation.
'Investment, not tariffs,' Ishiba told reporters after the talks. He said Japan's position to keep pushing Washington to drop all recent tariff measures is unchanged and that he stands by plans to push for Japanese investment to create more jobs in the US in exchange.
The two leaders held talks just after Economic Revitalisation Minister Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, headed to Washington for a third round of talks with his US counterparts. In the earlier rounds of talks, the US had not agreed to the Japanese requests.
Ishiba said he reminded Trump that Japan's position was for the US administration to scrap all recent tariffs on imports from Japan, to which the US president made no specific response.
'I expressed my expectations for productive discussion to be held, and we agreed,' Ishiba told reporters.
The US is charging a 25% tariff on imports of autos, a mainstay of Japan's trade with the US and a key driver of growth for the economy. Trump has relaxed some of those tariffs but has kept in place higher tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Friday's talks were requested by Trump and the two leaders discussed about 45 minutes on range of topics that also included security cooperation between the two allies and the US president's recent visit to the Middle East, Ishiba said.
He said the two leaders also agreed to hold talks when they both attend the Group of Seven summit in Canada next month.
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