ICT week beings with awards

The Week of Telecommunications and of Information Society in Moldova-2011 began with the awarding of the winners of the Republican Informatics Olympiad, IT teachers and specialists. The event will have the slogan “A better life with information and communications technology in rural communities”, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The ICT sector is developing steadily and is the least affected by the crisis. Income in 2010 has represented 9% of the GDP. This domain has a great potential regarding the infrastructure development, software production and export and IT services. Mobile and fixed telephony are developing rapidly. Now, there are 33 fixed line phones and 89 mobile phones for every 100 people. 37 out of 100 households have computers and 38% of citizens are Internet users”, said Minister Pavel Filip. He added that the use of electronic services could diminish the level of corruption, reduce bureaucratic obstacles and subsequently increase people’s trust in governmental authorities. “I have reasons to think that Moldova can become a factory of IT specialists and services”, said Vladimir Plahotniuc, First Deputy Speaker of Parliament. Gheroghe Duca, president of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, mentioned that because the importance of the ICT sector, the World Week of Telecommunications and of Information Society was a holiday not only for specialists, but for the whole society. Since 1969, the International Telecommunications Union marks the signing on May 17, 1965 of the first International Telegraph Convention and the creation of the International Telecommunications Agency. The UN General Assembly and the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference decided that since 2007, May 17 will be the World Day of Telecommunications and Information Society.