OREANDA-NEWS  On 26 February was announced, that a roundtable discussion on development of strategy for information society in Belarus until the year 2015 was conducted in Minsk, Belarus.

The event gathered representatives of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences, Belarusian Ministry of Communications and Informatization, non-governmental organization “Information Society”, High Tech Park, Association of IT Developers (AKIT), Belarusian ICT Association “Belinfocom”, Scientific and Technological Association “National InfoPark”, and major Belarusian IT companies including IBA.

The Belarusian Government entrusted the participants of the discussion to develop a strategy and an explanatory note by the end of March and to submit for approval to the Belarusian Prime Minister on May 5, 2009.

The strategy will be developed based on two documents, namely the Geneva Plan of Actions (December, 2003) and the Tunis Commitment (November, 2005). In addition, a detailed event plan will be devised.

The essence of the strategy is to ensure that any Belarusian citizen exercises the right to receive information, public authorities provide the information, and the Belarusian business provides technical support to the process.

Participants in the discussion decided to involve Belarusian IT companies in the process of development, evaluation, alteration and finalization of the document.