Introduction to the special section: professional communication in Russia

There is a rising interest within the world community in what is occurring in professional communication in Russia, and in the social and market opportunities that will appear there in the future. We live in a world in which the pace of change is more rapid than at any time in our history. The most important aspect of this change is the fact that we are making a transition to a democratic society at the same time as we are in the process of establishing the principles of a market economy. Russia is a country with enormous reserves of raw materials, vast territories, and rich intellectual resources. And now, as Russia is experiencing a painful transition to a market economy, the nation's economic potential becomes more and more dependent on the sophistication of its infrastructure. That is the reason why the information technologies and professional communication have become key factors of social progress. The Russian centers of research and industry are widely dispersed geographically, in such cities as Vladivostok, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Ekaterinburg, Saint Petersburg and Moscow. The last three or four years have seen a sharp increase in the demands for business information, electronic mail and communications for far-flung business and financial operations.<
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