International Conference |
Dear ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, friends!
I welcome you to the International Conference UNESCO between two Phases of the World Summit on the Information Society. We regard this event as one of the key thematic events in preparation for the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society. Essentially, this Summit, which was initiated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), has become the first global initiative focusing on the issues of building the information society as the new stage of the civilization development. Remarkably, for the first time at the top level and on a wide geopolitical scale the dialogue with the representatives of the private sector and the civil society contemplated virtually all aspects of the information society – technological, economic, social, cultural, political, and many others.
The final documents produced by the Summit’s first phase emphasise the key role of the Information and Communication Technologies as a tool of socio-economic and cultural human development. The use of the modern Information and Communication Technologies, such as the digital television, mobile communication, and the Internet, creates new opportunities for development of science, education, and culture. All the mass information and communication media are currently tightly connected to the modern Information Technologies.
The Russian Federation has already achieved considerable success in the sphere of building the Information Society at the national level and continues to work on integrating it into the global information space. The Summit’s Declaration of Principles noted that the Information and Communication Technologies represent a necessary foundation of the Information Society. Without belittling the content aspect of the information flows, it should be noted that without an adequate infrastructure neither information dissemination nor closing the digital divide are possible.
The Russian Federation Ministry of Information Technologies and Communication actively works on guaranteeing high levels of Information and Communication Technology development and turning it into a tool of the structural economic transformation. With regard to stimulating the infrastructure development, de-monopolising the network communication market is a crucial step. At the same time, implementing the universal service mechanism and establishing the facilities of public access to the Internet enable partial, if not complete, closure of the digital gap in the Russian society by providing widespread access to the information services.
The federal program Electronic Russia is underway; it targets the legislative reforms of the information and communication technologies market, the implementation of the modern technologies in the state governmental structures and socially important spheres, such as health, education, science and culture, and building the large-scale information and communication infrastructure. Russia promotes the advancement of its own domestic scientific developments and leading technological innovations to the global market. Resolving the task of creating technology parks (IT parks), which was identified as a priority by the President of the Russian Federation, would facilitate the transition of the Russian economy based on the raw materials towards the innovation economy.
The Russian Federation constantly works on developing the information society in close collaboration with the international organizations, assuming that it is the UN organizations –particularly, the ITU, UNESCO, and UNDP working based on their mandates – that should play a leading role in implementing the Summit’s decisions directed at building the global information society.
In conclusion I would like to congratulate all of those present here with the World Telecommunication Day. According to the ITU’s decision, the slogan for this day’s celebration is “Creating an Equitable Information Society: Time for Action”. This theme is rather relevant for the modern society, because the digital divide exists not only between the developed nations and the Third World countries, but also between the urban and rural areas and between the different social groups. I wish to the conference participants successful and productive work.
Leonid Reiman.
Minister of Information Technologies and Communication of the Russian Federation