International seminar "Financial mechanisms for ICT development" was conducted in accordance with decision of the Council of Heads of Communications Administrations of the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications (RCC) and decision of the RCC Coordinating Council of CIS member states on informatization in preparation of RCC member states to the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (16-18 November 2005, Tunis).

International seminar "Financial mechanisms for ICT development" was conducted in accordance with decision of the Council of Heads of Communications Administrations of the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications (RCC) and decision of the RCC Coordinating Council of CIS member states on informatization in preparation of RCC member states to the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (16-18 November 2005, Tunis).

The international seminar was attended by representatives of Communication Administrations and national authorities on informatization of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russian Federation, and representatives of international and non-governmental organizations.

The seminar discussed:

• Report of the Taskforce on financial mechanisms for ICT development presented at the 2^nd meeting of WSIS Preparatory Committee;
• Draft final documents of the World Summit including section on financial mechanisms;
• Priority dimensions in the sphere of ICT that demand financing;
• Existing financial mechanisms for ICT development in RTC member states and proposals on their amendment and addition of innovative mechanisms stimulating ICT development in these countries.

The seminar paid particular attention to the following issues:

• Financial support to implementation of national and regional strategies and programs of ICT development;
• Role of partnership between government, private sector and civil society for ICT development; and international and regional cooperation among all stakeholders in this sphere;
• Experience of RTC member states in introduction of financial mechanisms for ICT development.

The seminar participants emphasized that recommendations and decisions set out in final documents of WSIS Geneva phase are mainly implemented on national and regional levels:

1. Much attention is paid to the development of ICT sector; national and regional strategies and programs of ICT development are being drafted and implemented;
2. RCC and Coordination Council developed Action Plan on implementation of the "Strategy of CIS Member States Cooperation in the Sphere of Informatization", providing relevant regional events including intergovernmental programs;
3. Legislative and regulatory basis aimed at creating favourable conditions for ICT introduction and development is being developed;
4. Projects on providing access to ICT and ICT-based services are underway;
5. Works on introduction and development of ICT applications (e-Government, e-Health, e-Education, e-Trade, etc) and corresponding content development are underway;
6. RCC is undergoing systematic measures on coordinating national legislation in the sphere of ICT.

At the same time participants outlined a number of problems:

• Digital divide on national and regional levels still impedes providing access of all citizens in RCC member states to ICT services (especially in rural and remote areas);
• There is discrepancy between needs and available financial resources for ICT development;
• Current financial mechanisms are complex and are not applied to the full extent or fail to efficiently stimulate ICT development;
• There is no system for raising awareness on ICT potential in everyday life and work of citizens;
• Inefficient legislative and regulatory basis in the sphere of ICT and existing administrative barriers impede development of the Information Society on the whole;
• Business activity of citizens in the sphere of ICT is insufficient;
• There is no favorable environment for active participation of the private sector for supporting and financing ICT development.

The seminar participants stressed the necessity to:

• Implement governmental policy on national and regional levels aimed at bridging the divide in digital technologies and promoting development of entrepreneurship in the sphere of ICT and active participation of private sector in supporting ICT development;
• Create favorable conditions for attracting investments for ICT development, including provision of transparent and competition-favorable policy and creation of corresponding legislative basis;
• Activate interaction of public authorities, private sector and civil society in searching for financial resources for ICT development;
• Increase international and regional cooperation, promote multilateral partnership relations among all stakeholders aiming to develop the Information Society.
• Acknowledge the role and importance of financial resources and mechanisms as a crucial and necessary condition for accelerating region's socio-economic development;
• Create favorable conditions for adequate and sustainable investments in ICT infrastructure and development of ICT-based services;
• Acknowledge ICT financing as a key factor contributing to countries socio-economic development;
• Actively involve representatives of RCC Communications Administrations, national authorities in the sphere of informatization and representatives of non-governmental sector in preparation to the second stage of WSIS, including participation in the Moscow Conference on the Information Society (second stage of the second Bishkek-Moscow Conference on the Information Society) and 3^rd meeting of WSIS Preparatory Committee which will discuss WSIS final documents, including section on financial mechanisms;
• Integrate efforts of RCC member states for developing and promoting a coordinated position on financial mechanisms for ICT development to be included in WSIS final documents;
• Improve current financial documents and determine innovative mechanisms stimulating ICT development in RTC member states, which would support implementation of events provided by the Action Plan on implementation of the "Strategy of CIS member states cooperation in the sphere of informatization";
• Draft proposals of RCC participants on improving financial mechanisms of ICT development before the Moscow Conference on the Information Society (second stage of the second Bishkek-Moscow Conference).

Seminar participants raised the following proposals:

1. Alongside with financial support to the ICT infrastructure development particular attention should be paid to investments in development of different forms of ICT application and digital content and financial support to the programs for accumulating potential and initiatives on training ICT specialists;
2. Coordinate issues connected with donor support of international organizations and multi-stakeholder financial institutes for implementation of ICT development projects, in particular, developing a transparent and accessible procedure of management of the Digital Solidarity Fund and equitable use of its resources;
3. Take measures on improving and updating current mechanisms of ICT development, including on account of:

• Providing affordable ICT access by reducing the cost of international connection to the Internet collected by backbone service providers, as well as contribution to creation and development of ICT backbones and centers of dial-up Internet connection;
• Providing financial mechanisms improving access to ICT and ICT-based services in rural and remote areas and increasing responsibility of operators and service providers for provision of universal services;
• Contributing to development and use of regional, national and local financial instruments, such as credits, including micro-financing of business-incubators (IT parks) and other initiatives in the sphere of ICT bearing commercial character, as well as implementation of regional, national and local initiatives for digital solidarity.

Participants to the international seminar acknowledged high level of its organization and implementation and expressed gratitude to the organizers - Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of Azerbaijan and RCC Executive Committee.

Among other representatives the seminar was attended by Tatiana Ershova, IIS General Director and Head of PRIOR Directorate. She made report on "ICT4D Entrepreneurship as a Promising Source of Financing Information Society Development Programs" (in Russian) and actively participated in drafting the final document of the seminar.

Source: materials to the project of Final document of the international seminar "Financial mechanisms for ICT development".