Bridging gaps in the information society development between the subjects and cities of the RF by the use of the best standard solutions in the sphere of informatization were recognized as priority goals. In this regard the Council for the Development of the Information Society under President of the RF has scheduled a number of events this year. 

On April 16, 2010 the Government of Moscow at Novy Arbat hosted one of them – Methodical Seminar «E-Region: Organization of Work aimed at Preparation and Implementation of Action Plans for Information Society Development and Creation of E-Government” organized by Interdepartmental Working group on bridging gaps in information society development between subjects of the RF and the Expert Advisory Group of the Council under for the Development of the Information Society under President of the RF.

The main goal of the workshop was provision of methodical support to the subjects of the Russian Federation (RF) in working out Action plans for information society development by June 1, 2010 in accordance with decisions of State Council and Presidium of the Council for the Development of the Information Society under President of the Russian Federation. 

Members of presidium, interdepartmental workshops and the Expert Advisory Group of the Council under the President of Russia on Information Society Development, deputy heads of highest executive authorities of subjects of RF, heads of executive authorities responsible for ICT development and use in subjects of RF participated in the event.  

The plenary session of the seminar was opened by the Head of Interdepartmental Working group and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who spoke about necessity to align the information society development level in the subjects of RF and to reduce it to a common denominator. Sergey Naryshkin, Head of the Presidential Administration, the First Deputy Chairman of the Council for the Development of the Information Society under the President of the RF, introduced to participants priority trends of the national Strategy of Information Society Development till 2011. Adviser to the President of the RF and Secretary of the Council for the Development of the Information Society under the President of the RF, Leonid Reiman clarified subjects’ goals of its implementation.

In the end of the first part of the plenary session ceremony of awarding winners of the contest "The Best Region in ICT Sphere - 2010" took place. Sergey Naryshkin and Yuri Luzhkov presented the diplomas of the Council for the Development of the Information Society under the President of the RF to the representatives of ten subjects of RF – winners in the category “ICT development and use management” – among them were Chuvash Republic, Republic of Tatarstan, Republic of Karelia, Khanty-Mansiisk autonomous district – Yugra, Tyumen Region, Tomsk Region, Nizhni Novgorod Region, Murmansk Region, and Moscow and St. Petesburg as well.

The winners of the contest were selected on the base of statistical indexes of ICT technologies’ use in budget sphere, appraisals of public authorities’s web-representation in subjects of RF, and expert appraisals of RF subjects’ policy efficiency in the sphere of ICT development and use.

In the course of the second part of the plenary session representatives of federal authorities made speeches. Igor Shchyogolev, Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications of the RF, in his report on state program "Information Society 2011-2018" emphasized that nowadays ICT has to be transformed from additional tool of work into broad scale working mechanism. Oleg Simakov, Director of Department of Informatization of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the RF, Vladimir Miklushevskiy, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the RF, Oleg Neretin, Director of Department of Science and Education of the Ministry of Culture of the RF, shared experience on organization of work aimed at preparation and implementation of action plans for information society development and creation of e-government in subjects of RF as related to ICT use in the capacity of their authorities. Pavel Popov, Deputy Minister on Civil Defense Affairs, Emergencies, and Liquidation of Consequences of Natural Disasters reported on implementation of project "System-112" within the framework of realization of Strategy of Information Society Development in the Russian Federation till 2011.  

The Methodical Seminar was followed by two sections - "Organization of Management Processes of ICT Development and Use in the Regions" and "Working out Action Plan on Information Society Development and Creation of e-Government in the Subjects of the RF". 

Within the framework of the first section Maksut Shadaev, Assistant to Head of Presidential Administration of RF, Deputy Head of Expert Advisory Group of the Council under the President of Russia on Information Society Development; Mikhail Aleshin, Head of Informatization Department of Moscow; Nikolay Nikiforov, Director of the Center for Information Technologies of the Republic of Tatarstan; Evgeniy Tsivirko, Chairman of Committee on Informatization and Communication of St. Petersburg; Victor Nechaev, Deputy Head of the Mordovian Government – Minister of Education, Informatization and New Technologies of the Republic of Mordovia; Vladimir Solovov, Director on Informatization and Protection of Information of Ministry of Economic Development of Republic of Karelia presented their reports.  

The second section was opened by Yuri Hohlov, Chairman of IIS Board of Directors, Deputy Head of Expert Advisory Group, who reported on "Working out Action Plan on Information Society Development in the Subject of the RF”. Sergey Shaposhnik, Head of IIS Directorate, Head of Section of Expert Advisory Group, reported on development of system of target indexes and monitoring of implementation of the Plan. Speech of A. Monosov, Head of Section of Expert Advisory Group, was devoted to main approaches to implementation of e-region architecture.

Materials of the seminar are available at the web-site of the Council for the Development of the Information Society under President of the Russian Federation: http://www.infosovet.ru/hotnews/214-2010-04-16