On September 24, 2008 the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation endorsed the initiative of the Mobile Payments Project introduced by the Infocommunication Union to arrange the first international conference Mobile Commerce 2008 in Moscow on December 3-4, 2008

The activity of the Mobile Payments Project introduced by the Infocommunication Union meets extensive support of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation in the last years. The event in prospect is not the first one arranged jointly. In February, 2008 the Round table Mobile Payments and Mobile Commerce: Prospect of Development in Russia and in the World was held by the Mobile Payments Project. Among others, representatives of international organizations in the sphere of mobile commerce (GSMA, Cyphermint Inc., Giesecke & Devrient GmbH) participated in the Round table. The event gathered more than 100 participants to discuss the prospect of the Universal Payment Platform deployment and the results of research within the framework of experimental zone. The event was initiated by Bank Tavrichesky and Sviaz-Bank.

The first international conference Mobile Commerce 2008 is intended to serve the ground for discussing topical problems of mobile payments in Russia and abroad. The organizer of this event - Mobile Payments Project introduced by the Infocommunication Union.

Within the framework of discussions and reports a special attention will be given to payment solutions on the basis of the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and to the ways of its adoption in Russia and in the world. The results of theoretical and practical research initiated by the Mobile Payments Project and executed by Russian companies (“Development of Propositions and Recommendations for the NFC Application”, the second stage of the research work “Experimental zone”). were submitted to the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation in August, 2008. Discussion of problems and perspectives of NFC payments at the conference Mobile Commerce 2008 will contribute to elaboration of optimal solutions and will expedite the process of the NFC technology adoption in Russia.