Press release: Small entrepreneurs - unite!

18 December 2003

A project has been developed to create a unified information portal for small businesses.
As part of the implementation of the Federal Target Program "Electronic Russia", Race-Communication, commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation, has started developing an Information portal for Small businesses.

The amount of funding for the project is three million rubles. The purpose of the project is to create a specialized information system on the Internet that provides information interaction and information needs in the field of small business. The information system is created within the framework of the unified specialized information system "Government Portal".

The portal will contain full information about the state policy in the field of support and regulation of small business:

Strategic documents
Targeted small business support programs

The section dedicated to the legal support of small business will contain not only a selection of current legislation, but also the texts of draft laws and expert comments on the current regulatory legal acts.

This project is designed to create a resource that will provide entrepreneurs with the necessary information for each stage of activity.

The portal will contain official information of state authorities.
The basis of the portal's content content will be information from public authorities. Within the framework of the portal, it is supposed to combine both official state information (of a legal nature, etc.) and information provided by non-governmental organizations that have real practical value for business. At the same time, the main distinguishing feature of this information system in comparison with the currently existing ones is the maximum completeness of information provided by state bodies. To do this, the portal will provide for the mandatory nature of the placement of official information by public authorities.

Separately, the portal will provide detailed information on the main areas of support for small businesses:

Financial and credit support
Property support
Taxation
Education
Recruitment
Science and innovation
Information support
Investment
State support for the development of foreign economic activity
Public procurement

One of the most important principles of building a portal is its interactivity. On the basis of this system, it will be possible to express an attitude to the ongoing state policy regarding the development of small business, to give your suggestions and comments on various aspects of the development of small business.

Full commissioning of the system is expected in 2004. As a result of the project implementation, an information system - a portal - should be created. According to experts, the potential audience of the portal information system is more than 300 thousand small entrepreneurs across Russia as of December 2003.

The most important economic effect of the implementation of the work will be to stimulate the development of small businesses through improving the efficiency of information and consulting support for their activities.

As a result of the project implementation, various associations involved in supporting small business will be connected with potential members of such associations, business will be connected with government agencies, and the speed of the state's response to the urgent needs of small business will be increased.

According to the head of the Department of Corporate Governance and New Economy of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, Tseren Tserenov, there are now a large number of non-governmental resources on the Internet containing a variety of information on various business issues. However, most information systems provide incomplete, outdated information, and, most importantly, are not responsible for it. The task of the state, represented by the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, responsible for the project, is to create a unified information space that ensures and guarantees the provision of full information support to small businesses in Russia.

Background information:The Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, together with the Ministry of Communications of Russia, the Ministry of Industry and Science of Russia, the Ministry of Education of Russia, FAPSI, Rosaviakosmos and RASU, in accordance with the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated February 12, 2001 No. 207-r, the Federal Target Program "Electronic Russia (2002-2010)" was developed.

The main objectives of the Program are the creation of e-government, ensuring open access to information for citizens, providing access to the Internet, regulating and coordinating projects in the ICT sphere, creating the necessary legislative framework, a regulatory system in the field of information and communication technologies, and the formation of a training system in this area.

The Federal target program "Electronic Russia" is designed for 8 years and consists of three main stages.
The total amount of financing of the Federal Target Program was approved in the amount of 76.15 billion rubles (51% from the federal budget, 30% from the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and 19% from extra-budgetary sources).

Race Communications is a Russian system integrator offering laboratory-tested solutions from leading telecommunications equipment suppliers. The company carries out a full cycle of work: design, delivery, installation, as well as training of specialists and project support. Over the years of successful work in the telecommunications market, the company has gained considerable experience in conducting large-scale projects and creating distributed information systems. For more information about Race Communications, please visit www.race.ruFor more information, please contact by e-mail portal@race.ru