The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation is implementing the project to create the Small Business Information Portal as part of efforts under Electronic Russia (2002/2010) federal target program FTP.

The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation is implementing the project to create the Small Business Information Portal as part of efforts under Electronic Russia (2002/2010) federal target program FTP.

This project is designed to create a resource providing businessmen with necessary information on each stage of their operations, as a spokesperson of the ministry informed.

The project funding is RUR 3 million. Presently, the technological component and content of the portal are being reworked. The plan is to finalize the portal's first version ready for launch in the Internet by late in March 2004 and to fully commission the system by the end of 2004. The portal will feature comprehensive information on the governmental policy in the field of small business support and regulation, including strategic documents, target small business support programs.

”A section devoted to legal support of small business will not only contain extracts from applicable law but also texts of bills and expert comments to applicable regulations,” the report of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

Additionally, the portal will feature detailed information on the principal dimensions of small business support, financial and lending support, proprietary support, taxation, education, headhunting, science and innovations, information support, investments, governmental support to foreign economic operations development, governmental purchases, etc. As part of the portal, the idea is to combine official governmental information (of legal nature, etc.) with information provided by private agencies and having tangible practical value for business. The principal distinguishing feature of this information system as compared with existing ones is, in the opinion of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, maximum completeness of information provided by governmental authorities. And this is largely guaranteed by the fact that the small business portal is created as part of the single specialized information system called Governmental Portal.

In the opinion of experts, the potential readership of the portal will be over 300,000 small businesses throughout Russia. The most critical economic effect from creating the portal will be encouraging of small businesses development by enhancing efficiency of information and advisory support of their operations. The project will result in linking of various small business supporting entities with potential members of such entities, linking businesses with governmental authorities, quicker response of the government to urgent needs of small businesses. According to Mr. Tseren Tserenov, Head of the Department for Corporate Governance and New Economy of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation, 'there is a great number of private resources containing diverse information on different business problems in the Internet. Nonetheless, most information systems provide incomplete, obsolete information and, above all, are not responsible for it. The objective of the state represented by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade responsible for the project to create the single information space that ensures and guarantees provision of full information support to small business in Russia.”

Earlier, Mr. Andrey Sharonov, First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation, speaking at the Fifth All-Russian Conference of Small Enterprises noted that ”creating the single information space is one of the vital lines of governmental support to business in Russia. And creating the small business information portal as part of the Governmental Portal single specialized system is a great advance not only in this direction but also in order to secure the principles of transparency and availability in operations of governmental authorities of all levels.”