$1-Billion Govt. Internet Program Launched
The Russian government has approved an electronic governance program developed by the Ministry of IT and Communications and the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. The $1.3-billion program will allow the ten government services most frequently used by the public, such a ordering a passport, obtaining a driver's license and registering real estate, to be carried out online by 2010.
Within the program, every federal and regional agency is to have a telephone service center, where the public will be able to receive information by phone, and a modernized website with detailed descriptions of the services available. A Russian federal portal will be formed in 2008. By the second stage of the program, in 2009, people will be able to file forms over the Internet using electronic signatures.
Of the money allotted for the program, $770 million will go to regional governments and agencies, and the remainder will go to the Electronic Russia federal target program, which will pay for the changes on the federal level. Between 2002 and 2006, the Electronic Russia program received only $335 million. Minister of IT and Communications Leonid Reiman said that the program will save the government $380 million per year once it is operational. Experts say that the figure mentioned by Reiman is a minimum, and that the program will reduce risks of corruption.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 17, 2007
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Photo: Александр Петросян
