November - December 1999
UNDP
United Nations Development Programme

Launch of the 1999 National Human Development Report

The launch of the 1999 Human Development Report for the Russian Federation took place in Moscow on the eve of 2000.

Representatives of the Government, public institutions and agencies, Russian and international research centres, NGOs, diplomatic corps, accredited in Moscow and journalists gathered in the halls of the House of Europe in Vozdvizhenka, the former house of a Russian entrepreneur Arseny Morozov, where the ceremony took place.

This is the fifth issue of the Report produced by teams of Russian independent experts on the basis of the UNDP methodology, which provides analysis of the social and economic situation in Russia from the point of view of human development. Every year the Report and the evaluation of the country perspectives for the development in transition provided in it attract more and more attention of the public.

The present Report was focused on the issue of financial and economic consequences of the August 1998 crisis. It was for the first time that such acute social problems of the Russian society as housing, role of local self-governance and formation of civil society in Russia became the subject of the Report.

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The NHDR ‘99 gives a brilliant example of inter –agency cooperation within the UN system. UNESCO and ILO Offices in Russia co-sponsored the chapters on employment and education.

This year preparation of the National Human Development Report received support of the Government of Canada. Canadian contribution of 99 thousand Canadian dollars will be used to disseminate the Report all over Russia.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, His Excellency Rodney Irwin, Ambassador of Canada to the RF, stated that the primary reason for his country`s support is that the Human Development Report is an excellent publication. It is prepared by teams of Russia top specialists and contains a great deal of very pertinent information on various topics of particular interest to the seeking to promote positive social reforms, human rights among others, during the present period of complex economic and political transformation in Russia.

Mr. Philippe Elghouayel, UNDP Resident Representative in the Russian Federation noted that he sees this contribution as a manifestation of Canada`s commitment to human development. It is to be recalled that for several years Canada is ranked number one in terms of human development, as reflected in the global human development rating.

Mr. Yury Fedotov, Director of the Department of International Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the leader of the team of experts - authors of the Report also addressed the participants of the inauguration and specially stressed the important role of the Report as a source of information, analysis and recommendations.

Mr. Vitaly Linnik, Deputy Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma on Labour and Social Policies mentioned that the UNDP Reports on human development are most valued in the development of the legal framework of the country.

According to him many deputies of the Duma carefully study the results of expertise based on the UNDP methodology and presented in the reports. The MP confirmed that the future Duma deputies will give even more attention to study the annual NHDRs published by UNDP/Russia.

Conference on Transport Investment Opportunities

An International Conference «Transport Investment Opportunities» took place last September in the Mariott Grand Hotel, Moscow. The Conference was organized within the framework of the UNDP Project Moscow City Transport Development, being implemented jointly by UNDP/Russia and the Moscow City Government. The Project is basically aimed at resolving the existing traffic and environmental problems in the City of Moscow.

Organized by the General Consultant of the Project, Dornier System Consult GmbH, Germany, the Conference brought together 210 representatives of the Moscow City and Federal governments, the World Bank, foreign and Russian private companies, banks and international organizations. The Conference was chaired by Yuri Roslyak, Deputy Premier of the Moscow City Government, who addressed the participants on behalf of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. Opening statements were made by Meyer Landrut, Head of Daimler-Chrysler in Russia, and Philippe Elghouayel, UNDP Resident Representative in the Russian Federation.

Upon completion of the Conference, which discussed ways of raising investment funds to promote the development of the Russian capital’s transport infrastructure and presented a great opportunity for the potential investors to identify areas of interest with regard to the future investment in Moscow, the General Consultant of the Project will prepare a database of key investors, information and finance available, and areas of possible cooperation. The participants agreed that the Conference should become the first step in developing partnership between the Moscow City Government, international organizations and various private companies worldwide.

Telecommunication Network for Adygeya

Assistance will be provided to Adygeya to implement an innovative project titled «Folk Phone» under the agreement signed in November between the UNDP Country Office in the RF and the government of this North Caucasian Republic. The Agreement was signed in Maikop by Mr. Mukharbiy Tharkahov, Prime-Minister of Adygeya and Mr. Alexander Avanessov, UNDP Senior Regional Advisor.

Insufficient network of telecommunications in Adygeya remains one of the major constraints on the way of economic development of the republic, especially small and medium entrepreneurship. According to the assessments of the local experts, at present telecommunication network covers only 30 percent of the settlements. Telecommunication system is totally underdevelopted in the remote mountainous areas. Given the situation it has been agreed that the best solution will be installation of a digital radio/telecommunication network, which finally will allow to establish a unified republican telecommunication network.

Creation of a wireless net access to telecommunication lines of common use will allow in limited time to create an infrastructure for the small and medium business development, therefore creating new jobs. The first phase of the project envisages creation of a communication network for 750-800 users for remote mountainous regions of the republic. The second phase is targeted at increasing capacity of the local nets of the administrative regions and the capital in Maikop and further to unite the local nets by means of a common switchboard. Though establishment of the telecommunication network will not provide for a brighter future in one separate republic, it will certainly speed up its economic development and, thus raising living standards of the people.

Deputy Prime-Minister, Minister of Economy Mr. Nikolay Avdeenko stated: «The objective of this joint programme is to develop means of telecommunication, provide permanent and sustainable telephone contacts with any part of the world sounded like a science fiction several years ago for Adygeya». UNDP allocated US$ 100, 000 for implementation of this project, the input of the government of the republic will be US$ 150,000, as the result population of Adygeya will get an access to global communications.

 

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