Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications (RCC) was set up on December 17, 1991 in Moscow by the Heads of Communications Administrations (CA) of independent states. That day they signed the Agreement on Establishment of the RCC – an organization missioned to carry out cooperation between new independent states in the field of telecommunication and postal communication based on their free will, principles of mutual respect and sovereignty.
In October 1992 in Bishkek (Kyrgyz Republic) the Heads of Government of the CIS countries signed the Agreement on coordination of interstate relations in the field of postal- and tele-communication, which vested the RCC with the authority of an interstate coordinating body in the field of tele- and postal communication. The RCC principle tasks are the extension of mutual beneficial relations between the RCC CAs in the course of harmonization of development of communications networks and facilities; coordination in the field of scientific and technical policy, radiospectrum management, tariff policies for communication services and settlements, staff training; interaction with the international organizations in the field of communications and informatization, information interchange, etc.
The initial period of the RCC formation and development was related to elaboration of conceptual, legal and finance documents, the aims of the organization, status and powers of its participants, structure and authority of the executive bodies ensuring comprehensive cooperation, were determined.
The Supreme organ of the RCC is the Board of the Heads of the Communications Administrations, carries out its activities pursuant to the Regulations. The decisions of the Board are taken by common consent (consensus) of its members.
The permanent executive organ of the RCC is Executive Committee, located in Moscow.
Later the Working Bodies – Commissions, Boards of Telecommunication Operators and Postal Operators, Working Groups, which activities aimed at elaboration and realization of specific tasks of the Commonwealth, have being formed and developed within the RCC. At the RCC Board sessions the issues of transition to a new system of international phone codes, regulation of frequency spectrum use, draft programmes of creating regional centers for staff education and training in new communication technologies, coordination of the RCC CAs actions in the field of postal communication, participation in the UPU and ITU activities.
At the RCC session in Minsk the Concept and main provisions on interaction of the RCC CAs communication networks were adopted, for their further development measures for the step-by-step realization of programs of creation of interconsistent telecommunication space within the CIS were developed, Programme of the RCC activities followed by the Strategic directions of the RCC activities for the near future was shaped and approved.
The end of the 20-th century and the beginning of a new millennium were marked by new initiatives within the Commonwealth. They were caused by political and economic changes as well as the rapid communications development both in the CIS countries and all over the world.
A new strategic line is the integration into the world information society.
Over the last years all over the world and in the CIS region the information and communication technologies (ICTs) are rapidly introduced. In the countries of the RCC participants the ICTs introduction and development are acknowledged as one of the priorities and intensive work on infocommunications development is being done.
Taking into account the large scale transformations taking place within the informatization sphere, in October 2002 the Governments of the CIS countries adopted a decision on creation of Coordination Council for Informatization of the CIS member states attached to the RCC (Coordination Council) – an interstate coordinating body in the field of information technologies.
Over the two years after the Coordination Council establishment 5 sessions devoted to the topical informatization problems and issues of information society building were held.
Within the framework of the RCC and Coordination Council over the recent years the significant work on preparations for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the first phase held on December 10-12, 2003, Geneva is being done. The outcome of the gathering was the approval of two basic documents “Declaration of Principles” and “Action Plan”.
Joint work of the RCC delegations allowed to reflect in the WSIS final documents the interests of countries with economy in transition, the priorities of ensuring access ICT facilities, development of socially important ICT applications in the area of education, medicine, the issues of information security, Internet usage. That is an important success for the RCC countries.
Now the preparations for the second phase of the Summit, which is to be held in November 2005 in Tunisia, have started. The RCC Communications Administrations decided to increase consolidation of their efforts and to come out with coordinated position, taking into account national peculiarities of every country, and proposals for Action Plan realization.
Some CIS countries are developing and implementing national e-strategies and programmes. For example, “Electronic Russia”, one of the first such programmes in the CIS countries, has already been functioning and there are some results. The programmes “Electronic Ukraine” and “Electronic Belarus” are under realization now. In the other republics national ICT strategies are developing and implementing, taking into account the experience of the other CIS countries and their national priorities. And here too the RCC plays an important role for coordination, integration and interaction of the CIS countries within the framework of these programs.
The important stage of the CIS interaction within the Coordination Council was the approval of the “Strategy of the CIS countries cooperation in the field of informatization”. It was developed taking into account national informatization programmes as well as the interstate and regional programmes and projects. The objectives and tasks are stated in the Strategy, main directions of cooperation and procedures for its implementation aimed at shaping a single information society in the CIS countries, digital divide bridging, ensuring public access to the information resources and technologies are determined.
One of the most important instrument for Strategy realization are the interstate programs: “Creation of the info-marketing centers network for promotion goods and services into the national markets of the CIS countries for the period up to 2005” and “Improvement of the automated system of information exchange between the CIS countries”. Coordination Council is charged to supervise their realization.
The Coordination Council considers proposals for joint solution by the Commonwealth states of the problems of info-telecommunication systems and networks information security. Commission on information security is being formed to tackle these problems.
Summing up the above-stated, it could be noted that the Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications is an organization permanently developing and improving its activities, forms and methods of work. The growing authority of our organization among the CIS countries and at the international scene is a vivid example of the validity of the chosen way.