Ukraine ready to implement IT projects with Microsoft - Zelensky

He said this at a meeting with Country Manager of Microsoft Ukraine Jan Peter de Jong, the presidential press service reported.

"We are open. We are not a bureaucratic machine. We want to be seen as a startup among the countries of the world, which has moved away from the bureaucracy as much as possible," Zelensky said.

He thanked the company for giving priority to Ukraine in the project to develop data centers and support digital initiatives that are being implemented in the country.

In this context, Zelensky also noted the importance of a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation between the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Microsoft, which was signed as part of the presidential project "A State in a Smartphone" on October 2.

"We are grateful to Microsoft not only for signing this important Memorandum, but also for the fact that the company pays its important attention to Ukraine and sees that digitalization is not just words for Ukraine. This is both economic development and the fight against corruption," he said.

De Jong said that his company seeks to achieve a common result with Ukraine.

"[We should] use all our efforts and all our capabilities to make sure that the projects that were presented today are implemented very quickly," de Jong said.

He noted that Microsoft was ready to help develop technologies in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, in turn, thanked Microsoft for its readiness to be a partner of Ukraine. According to him, concrete steps for cooperation will be outlined in the action plan for the implementation of the memorandum.

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov noted that Ukraine's cooperation with Microsoft will promote the development of the country's brand and its recognition in the world. In particular, the memorandum provides training for 113,000 students to work with Microsoft Azure cloud services.

"As of today, we are already considering the transition of the 'Diia 2.0' app to this system. We are also actively working to store important data in Ukraine, not abroad," he said.

Fedorov also added that the introduction and use of new programs and services will help save budget funds.

Earlier, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and Microsoft signed a memorandum on the implementation of the Azure Expansion Program that provides for the creation and localization of Microsoft cloud services in Ukraine.

Microsoft Azure is a cloud platform and infrastructure designed for developers of cloud computing applications that simplifies the process of creating online applications.

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