Official Welcome Address of the Minister of Telecommunications of the Russian Federation Mr. Igor Shchegolev to participants of SVIAZ EXPO / COMM 2009

For the first time in the history of Russia there is a forum which brings together professionals of the ICT industry and public media. The need for such a show has long and acutely been felt by the industry and the society as a whole. This is basically a new formula of cooperation between telecoms, IT, and public media professionals, engineers and developers, equipment manufacturers. It reflects the full information cycle, “the circulation of the information in the society“. Sviaz / Expo Comm united those who creates competitive content, manages, stores and delivers it by means of the most modern technologies and finally those who distribute the information product oriented on a sensible, informed choice of each member of the society.

I expect that the show will not be the next “status parade”, but a working tool for all its participants, an efficient platform for fruitful business contacts and information exchange.

Taking into account that this year Sviaz / Expo Comm takes place in a situation of a global financial and economic turbulence I sincerely wish all exhibitors and visitors real results from the participation at this forum.

Minister of Telecommunications of the Russian Federation

I. Shchegolev