Import substitution department may appear in the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media

Photo: Dragana Gerasimoski \ shutterstock.com

Yesterday it became known that the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) announced a new appointment: Yevgeny Kovnir, who previously headed the department of information technology industry development at the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media, came to the agency. In connection with the departure of Kovnir, this department may be eliminated, writes Vedomosti. But instead, the agency may receive a new department that will deal with issues of import substitution. The new structure is likely to be engaged in the evaluation and analysis of information programs of various government agencies, including monitoring the implementation of the software import substitution plan.

If this department really appears, then Deputy Minister Alexei Sokolov, who is now in charge of information security, will be responsible for his work.

As for the software import substitution plan, the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media approved it on April 1 of this year. According to the document, by 2025, developers from the Russian Federation should reduce their dependence on imports of the most important software varieties. Decrease in dependence should be quite strong - from 50-95 to 10-50%. On June 2, the ministry has already chosen priority projects, for the financing of which 18 billion rubles have been requested. government grants.
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The allocation of grants was to be handled by the relevant autonomous non-profit organization. Already at the end of June it became known that the proposal of the Ministry of Communications for the creation of such an organization did not find support from the Ministry of Economic Development. In addition, at the end of July, the Accounts Chamber called the work of the Ministry of Communications on the import substitution plan unsatisfactory.