POLICY AND REGULATORY

The Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Telecommunications, signed February 28,1994, in Washington D.C., by the Department of State and the Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications of the Russian Federation, calls for:

Regularized meetings at the minister level;
Consultations by responsible senior government officials to resolve any specific bilateral questions and problems in telecommunications and to exchange views on broad policy questions with a view towards open markets and expanding trade and investment in telecommunications;
Regulatory seminars;
Short-term telecommunications training.

The Memorandum of Understanding on the Global Information Infrastructure Initiative, signed July 22,1994 in Moscow, the Russian Federation, by the Department of State; the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, Department of Commerce; the Federal Communications Commission; for the United States, and the Ministry of Posts & Telecommunications; the Presidential Committee of the Russian Federation for Informatization Policy; for the Russian Federation, calls for:

A mutual exchange and sharing of information on objectives, priorities and plans for developing information superhighways;
Mutual participation in the respective national dialog on definition of policies dealing with information superhighways;
A program of exchanges;
Joint consultations to identify the parameters of a single pilot demonstration project of the information superhighway from a list of possible applications such as: health care, education, manufacturing, electronic commerce and environmental monitoring.

The Federal Communications Commission, through Congressionally-authorized programs for assistance to the former Soviet republics, works with several U.S. agencies including the State Department, the Department of Commerce, the United States Agency for International Development, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency and the United States Information Agency in seminars and discussions with regulatory counterparts from the former Soviet republics. These collaborations include discussions about developing national regulatory structures and procedures, and a broad spectrum of telecommunications and broadcasting regulatory issues.