Joint Collegium of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus

The Administration of the region hosted a meeting of the joint Collegium of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus. The meeting was attended by Governor Alexey Ostrovskiy, Konstantin Noskov, Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, Sergey Popkov, Minister of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus, as well as heads of Russian and Belarusian telecom companies, industry enterprises and organizations.

Opening the joint Collegium, Konstantin Noskov pointed out: "We met with Sergei Petrovich (Popkov) not so long ago in Moscow and agreed to hold a joint Collegium in Smolensk region. Today, we have a very intense agenda covering 9 issues. We will discuss different issues including promising projects in the field of digital economy, communication issues, digital transformation of the media sphere, satellite coordination of networks, etc. I would also like to thank Governor Alexey Ostrovsky and the Administration of Smolensk region for having us here. We will be happy to come again."

In his turn, Governor Alexey Ostrovskiy said in his opening speech: "An event of this scale is extremely important and relevant for our region, which works as good friends with the Republic of Belarus in the cultural, economic and scientific spheres. It facilitates sharing the experience, discussing joint projects, establishing business contacts. I hope that holding such meetings in the border regions, both in Russia and in the Republic of Belarus, will become a good tradition. This will allow us to consider and solve the problems in more detail and to develop bilateral cooperation more actively, which we consider extremely important for our countries."

In his speech, the Head of the region drew the attention of the audience to the fact that every year digitalization is rapidly changing the usual forms and methods of economy and management around the world. It is information technology that allows us to get away from the traditional notions of geographical and political boundaries. "Today, there is an active discussion of the national project "Digital Economy" going on in the Russian Federation, which affects all spheres of life: health care, education, state administration. Smolensk region also takes part in this process, introducing universal modern info-communication technology that are convenient for citizens. In the region, e-government is being actively developed, projects aimed to eliminate digital disparities are being implemented. The first priority in this work is to increase the efficiency and quality of services provided to the population," said Alexey Ostrovskiy. He added that the quality and reliability of communication infrastructure are not always sufficient conditions for providing services that meet modern requirements, especially in sparsely populated areas.