Digital transformation is a factor in increasing the technological potential of countries and a necessary condition for achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The purpose of the study is to, based on an analysis of the state and indicators characterizing the development of digitalization in the post-Soviet countries that are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), identify the opportunities and limitations of the digital transformation of national economies to increase their competitiveness and ensure sustainable growth. When conducting the study, we used indicators of the production of goods and services in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT), published by the World Bank, determined according to a unified methodology, as well as data from Rosstat. As a result of assessing the state, dynamics, and problems of implementing digitalization processes in the analyzed countries, the article establishes an excess of imports of ICT goods over their exports and the influence of the active use of imported ICT goods on the development of ICT services, which determines the technological dependence of countries and can be considered a threat to technological sovereignty and an obstacle to digital transformation of economies; increasing the technological sovereignty of the countries of the post-Soviet space that are members of the SCO should be determined by the intensified development of sectors for the production of ICT goods and services; overcoming the shortcomings and problems of digitalization will be facilitated by the implementation of measures of state support for R&D in the ICT sector, the development of mechanisms for stimulating public-private partnerships and private investment in the national production of ICT goods and services. The general objectives of the SCO countries in the field of digitalization are substantiated, additional opportunities provided by digital transformation to national economies and limitations that should be taken into account when developing digitalization programs in the context of individual countries and economic sectors are identified.
Digital transformation; digitalization; sustainable development goals (SDGs); Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO); information and communication technologies (ICT).