DOHA: Qatar and Ukraine have forged a strong and enduring partnership that has deepened and diversified in many fields. Ukraine’s tech companies can provide unique opportunities for Qatari public and private sector representatives to obtain the highest level of digital services at an affordable cost said a top official.

Speaking to The Peninsula, Vice Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine H E Oleksandr Bornyakov highlighted the cooperation in the field of technology sectors of Qatar and Ukraine and ways to boost technological advancements.

“We are thinking about creating a Qatar-Ukraine technology bridge to have a place for Ukrainian companies to soft-land here to explore Qatar and the whole Middle East through Qatar. Also, providing Qatari businesses with more knowledge about what Ukrainian companies do and offering their services to Ukrainian companies,” Bornyakov said.

Vice Minister of Digital Transformation noted that innovation is one of the key pillars in Qatar’s strategy and also the excellence of institution support. This is where Ukraine can contribute a lot as “we consider ourselves an innovative country. We have around 5000 companies, 300,000 people who focus on innovation; they’re on edge of innovation.”

The Vice Minister also briefed about digital innovation driving the growth of the region and opportunities in the field of AI, and emerging technologies. “Ukrainian startups are trying to optimise the supply chain to make the technology work for decreasing cost, eliminate human factor decreasing number of people dedicated to a certain task. I think that’s interesting to Qatar and we can help explore those solutions. At the same time, we are also interested in Qatar as a gateway to Gulf countries and the Middle East.”

Ukraine’s startups take the leading place in govtech, agritech, cyber, defensetech, healthtech, and beyond. The synergy between Qatari and Ukrainian startup ecosystems will create a cross-regional hub of digital excellence.

Speaking about how tapping into Ukraine’s robust tech talent pool can open new avenues for innovation and cross-border investments that align with Qatar’s economic diversification ambitions, Bornyakov said, that historically, the Ukrainian IT sector has been focusing on the Western countries and has learned to work on very complex projects.

Today, Ukrainian companies work with most of the Fortune 500 companies and on very complex tasks that require the top expertise in the world.

“So when Qatar steps into Ukrainian expertise, this might achieve great results as a huge number of people work for DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Boeing, Fidelity, Deutsche Bank and many other big financial, healthcare, automotive, transport institutions. I think this can open a great potential for both countries because with the scale of Qatari projects and with the expertise they can do everything faster and without errors.” Mentioning the Web Summit 2024, he said 10 Ukrainian startups from diverse sectors participated and explored opportunities offered by Qatar’s ecosystem.

“I believe that networking is one of the leading forces and building a startup environment is a great sign. I think it’s the right thing by the Qatar government to support and hold the Web Summit here which is the biggest startup networking event in the world. This is the right move. For the next summit we will focus on artificial intelligence and are going to bring some more companies to make those bridges,” Bornyakov said.