Russia: National ICT Policies

Overview

Russia did little to establish an ICT policy prior to Putin’s presidency and even he had a slow start.  In 2000, Putin signed the Okinawa Charter of the Information Society.  “Upon his initiative the Government of the Russian Federation has developed a number of programs aiming at wide dissemination of the modern computer technologies in all spheres of life.” (13) 

It took another 2 years for the Russian Federation to take a closer look at its own policy.  The “Electronic Russia 2002-2010” Program was created on January 28, 2002 with the aim “to increase the efficiency of the economy both in the public and private sectors, to make wider use of information technologies in government departments, and transfer much of the state’s work online.” (14)  Currently, the Program is in its second phase and several pilot projects are in the works including the complete digitization of several oblast government agencies.

One of the major forces in bringing ICT policy to the forefront of Putin’s agenda is its ongoing fight for WTO accession.

eRussia Program (17)

• $2.6 Billion program intended to boost e-commerce and internet use in the country
• Phase 1 - $230M
• Phase 2 - $804M
• Phase 3 - $1,595M
• Program addresses 4 key areas in ICT
• Regulatory environment and institutional framework
• Internet Infrastructure
• E-Government
• E-Education
• Timeline:
• 2002 – refine the plan, identify necessary feasibility studies and define pilot projects
• 2003-2004 – Studies and pilot projects conducted
• 2005 – full implementation expected to begin
• Leadership:
• Implementation will be under the general management of the Interagency Commission headed by the Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation, German Gref
• The commission will form a Council of Experts made up of executives of IT companies, universities, scientific organizations, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and state and municipal bodies.
• Operational Management and technical support will be supervised by the Ministry of Telecommunications and Informatization