2021 was the first year of operation of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. Specialized services prior to this functioned in the structure of state administration. The new department for the first time summed up the results of its activities today. The extended meeting was organized via videoconference. The President of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic Vadim Krasnoselsky took part in its work.
Minister Sergey Babenko delivered a report. He recalled that the main tasks of the department he heads are related to the formation and implementation of state policy in three areas: information technology, telecommunications, and the media. The Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Communications has jurisdiction over two institutions - PGTRK and The Pridnestrovskaya Gazeta (Pridnestrovian Newspaper) as well as five unitary enterprises: centers for information technology and communication regulation, post office, "Polygraphist" printing house, "Pridnestrovian Stamp" publishing house. Taking into consideration the current conditions, the solution of the tasks facing the ministry is closely linked to digitalization. An appropriate administration has been created. The speaker noted the active involvement of public authorities and said that digital transformation has affected such areas as the economy, finance, healthcare, education, and agriculture. The Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Communications of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic is responsible for nine state information systems. One of them is the Public Services Portal, which currently unites 23 departments and provides information on 508 services, 83 can be ordered remotely, electronic response is delivered for 77 of them. Registration for vaccination and revaccination are among the current innovations. 1200 people took advantage of this opportunity. 12.5 thousand applications were processed through the “Public Services Portal” system in just a year. The number of registered users reached 14623 (93.7% - individuals). Sergey Babenko singled out the Interdepartmental Electronic Document Management system, which has 87 participants. 178822 documents were sent within the system in the reporting period.
The Minister focused on the issue of creating a digital State Land Cadastre. This is a direct presidential order. In addition to the Ministry of Digital Development, Telecommunications and Mass Media, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Economic Development are involved in the work. An information system developed by the Moscow Design Bureau was chosen for implementation. The testing was made. The need for equipment has been determined. The necessary funds are included in the 2022 budget.
Sergey Babenko said that the relevant ministry initiated the development and put into operation the Electronic Payments system. As part of the improvement of the educational process, the Elzhur system appeared in 2021. It is used by 140 educational institutions, more than four thousand teachers, over 35 thousand schoolchildren and 30 thousand parents are registered. A website for volunteers was also developed and launched during the period.
The Head of the department focused on the topic of personal data protection, spoke about the work carried out in this direction, said that there were five personal data operators in the republican register. Sergei Babenko noted that there is still a violation of the requirements of the law in this sphere. According to Sergey Babenko, the ministry will intensify promoting awareness.
Speaking about activities in the field of communications, Sergey Babenko spoke about the measures taken to develop modern broadband mobile communication networks of the 5G generation. He focused on the measures taken to cover remotely located villages with the Internet. It is noted that fixed telephone communication covers all settlements of the republic (at the same time, there has been a tendency during past five years to reduce the number of subscribers, which is due to the preference for mobile phones). More than 338 thousand mobile subscribers are registered in Pridnestrovie. The entire republic is covered by CDMA standard cellular communication. High-speed LTE is available in cities, but not yet in all villages of Pridnestrovie. The number of subscribers of the cable television broadcasting network was decreased by 6.2% (129772) during the year. The number of digital broadcasting users was increased by 10.2% (26,512 subscribers). 35 villages of the republic are not yet covered by this network. The state program for the full transition is designed until 2026.
Informing about the activities of the "Post of Pridnestrovie" State Unitary Enterprise, the minister said that the enterprise is represented by 123 branches, 89 of which are located in rural areas. There are 16 postal news stalls and two shops. The staff of the organization is 528 units. It was optimized by carrying out reorganization measures that made it possible to reduce 42 staff positions and, to increase the wages of existing employees by 5.4% at the expense of the released funds. The main functionality of the enterprise is the delivery of postal items of periodicals and pensions, as well as ensuring subscription to newspapers and accepting utility bills. The volume of postal items decreased overall in 2021. At the same time, the work of accelerated EMS mail has been noticeably activated, the number of outgoing parcels has increased.
The issue of the Moldo-Pridnestrovian negotiating agenda should be the relationship between the "Post of Pridnestrovie" State Unitary Enterprise and the "Post of Moldova" State Enterprise, Sergei Babenko noted, talking about the absence of a system of offsets between the two organizations and the current mechanism for charging customers.
As for the media, there are six state media in Pridnestrovie: the First Pridnestrovskiy television, Radio 1, the news agency Novosti Pridnestrovya, the newspapers Pridnestrovie, Gomin, and AdevarulNistrian. Information platforms of social networks and instant messengers were actively developed in the reporting period. The speaker spoke about the main directions of the society's life, important events and highlights of the past year, which received increased attention from the Pridnestrovian media. Sergey Babenko indicated that in August 2021 the Union of Journalists of the PMR resumed its work. Within five months, 27 people joined its ranks (there were 92). Journalists from audiovisual media also applied for membership in contrast to previous years (only print media before that). The Young Journalist's School started its activity. Work is underway to create an exposition of the future museum of Pridnestrovian media.
Foreign media were actively accredited to work on the territory of the PMR in 2021 despite the pandemic restrictions. Documents were drawn up for 36 mass media and 27 independent journalists. Increased attention to the republic fell on August - November – the period of participation of FC Sheriff in football matches of the Champions League. Regarding the registration of local media: only one new publication was registered in the reporting year, this is the official website of the Bendery City Council. Seven Mass Media during five years. At the same time, there are 280 entries in the Unified State Register of Mass Media. We are currently working on updating the information. The analysis showed that many media outlets registered in Pridnestrovie since the early 1990s do not function. During the year, the procedure for terminating the activities of 13 units was carried out.
The speaker paid attention to printing and publishing. It was noted that the first half of the year was unprofitable for the printing house of Bendery, the situation improved in the second half of the year due to the release of educational literature (26000 copies of school textbooks and 25000 sets of workbooks for primary school students were produced within one month). An important direction is the publication of literature about Pridnestrovie. There was a change in the management of the Polygraphist enterprise in September. Equipment was modernized. The printing house at the end of the year received 74.7% more profit than in 2020.
"Stamp of Pridnestrovie" annually issues about 80 new postage stamps, the total circulation of which exceeds one million copies. 21 series of commemorative postage marks and one definitive stamp series were put into circulation in 2021. The sales market is mainly domestic.
Speaking about the staff of the department, the Minister said that the staff number is 84, the payroll is 64 people. The Ministry is experiencing a shortage of specialists in the sphere of information technology and communications. 11 employees were trained within the framework of professional development programs in educational institutions of Pridnestrovie and Russia.
Vadim Krasnoselsky noted after listening to the reporting information that the department worked productively for the first year. All the tasks inherent in the first stage of the activity of the newly created body have been completed at the proper level. The President spoke about the importance of the work of the ministry in the modern conditions of digitalization of most spheres of society. The PMR President focused on the functions of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media and the tasks that the ministry will continue to solve. He focused on the fact that interdepartmental document flow should be mainly electronic. According to the President, it is necessary to prohibit at the legislative level the state structures from requesting documents from citizens and legal entities that are available in a single network. The base needs to be updated. Special attention was paid to the land cadastre. Vadim Krasnoselsky noted that he expects that the results of the work on its formation, which was headed by the Ministry of Digital Development, will not be long in coming. The President focused on the coordinating role of the ministry in relation to the media. The President singled out such important, in his opinion, areas as informing the population about the real state of affairs in the republic and abroad, coverage of events and events dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the armed aggression against the people of Pridnestrovie, patriotic education, popularization of applied professions. In addition, it is the media that have rich tools to acquaint Pridnestrovians and foreign audiences with legendary personalities - those who have distinguished themselves in the past, and our contemporaries who form a general idea of the Pridnestrovian people, according to Vadim Krasnoselsky. Vadim Krasnoselsky noted that history, traditions, culture of different nationalities that form the community of the Pridnestrovian people, sports and a healthy lifestyle, environmental protection are among the topics that journalists should raise more often.
The President spoke about the importance of staffing the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, emphasizing that other departments and institutions also need specialists in this field. The PMR President recommended intensifying cooperation in this direction with the state university and creating a new department if necessary.
In general, the work of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media in 2021 was recognized by the PMR President as satisfactory.
