MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/. The number of programmers working in Russia has increased by almost 15% over the past year and exceeded 820,000 people, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said in a video address to the participants of the International Forum Kazan Digital Week-2023.

"Over 820,000 programmers work in the country, which is 15% more than a year earlier," Mishustin said. According to him, about 22,000 companies producing domestic software are accredited in the country, and 33 industrial competence centers have been launched.

"Thanks to this systematic approach, we can single out areas where there is a particular dependence on foreign digital products and to intensify their substitution to maintain the stability of production, design, financial, technological and social processes at enterprises," the head of the Cabinet said.

He also thanked entrepreneurs who invest in domestic IT solutions. "In this way, you are creating the groundwork for the further growth of this important area," the Prime Minister said.

Addressing the participants of the event, Mishustin noted that the forum taking place in Kazan has become a channel that "allows us to receive feedback from the business community." "I am confident that the proposals that will be heard here these days will make a significant contribution to the fulfillment of the President’s instructions to achieve technological sovereignty," the head of the Cabinet emphasized.