Today, the RIA Novosti Press Centre hosted the annual meeting of the extended board of the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media. The Ministry reported on its performance over the past year and outlined its development strategy for the industry in 2013.
The meeting involved representatives of state departments, affiliated enterprises and companies, trade unions and industry associations, as well as senior managers of the largest commercial companies in the industry.
Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who opened the board meeting, noted the successful performance of the current Ministry of Communications and Mass Media team. “The Ministry is working, fulfilling its main functions and is making headway in accomplishing its most important objectives,” Dvorkovich said. He said there had been positive development trends in the industry last year. “The industry grew by about 5%, which is more than most economic sectors, so that means that communications, the mass media and IT are the driving force of economic growth overall,” he added.
In his speech, Minister of Communications and Mass Media Nikolai Nikiforov outlined the specific priorities of the Ministry’s work, and discussed various achievements and short-term plans. In particular, the Minister singled out the provision of electronic online services. “Under Presidential Executive Order No. 601, 70% of Russian citizens should get access to electronic services by 2018. At the same time, 90% of the services must be provided under the one-stop shop principle,” Mr Nikiforov said. The quality of these services will also have to be assessed and the digital divide, which is one of the Ministry's priorities, needs to be addressed.
The Minister said electronic ID cards with electronic signatures would gradually replace paper civilian passports. He said that the universal electronic cards currently being introduced were a solid foundation for this work.
Nikolai Nikiforov underscored the need to develop the joint state services web portal and to subsequently introduce a system of inter-departmental electronic cooperation. He said the communications sector would also change, and that there were plans to introduce mobile number portability (MNP), abolish nationwide roaming services and develop communications networks.
Speaking about the development of the IT sector, the Minister discussed the fulfilment of instructions which were issued after a meeting of the Presidium of the Presidential Council for Economic Modernisation and Innovative Development at the end of 2012. He said up to 50 research centres and groups, due to be established with the assistance of the Ministry of Education and Science, would conduct breakthrough research in the field of cutting-edge information technology.
Nikolai Nikiforov singled out the modernisation of the Russian Post and said its 42,000 branch offices were a reserve for expanding the range of state services.
Source: Ministry of Communications and Mass Media
