Ljubljana   —  The Minister of Public Administration of Slovenia Gregor Virant, the Chairperson of the Stability Pact’s Electronic South East Europe  (eSEE) Initiative, Dr Diana Simic, together with representatives from the European Foundation for Information Society and e-Government (Spain), Microsoft, the INA Academy of Thessaloniki (Greece), SRC.SI (Slovenia), Siemens Austria and UNDP, officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding to create a Centre for e-Governance Development (CeGD).

The creation of the Centre for e-Governance Development is a continuation of the Stability Pact’s eSEE Initiative’s activities to foster the region’s progress toward implementing the eSEE Agenda Plus - the regional eGovernance and ICT programme document which was signed at the Regional eSEE Ministerial in Sarajevo last October.  The eSEE agenda is designed to assist the region in its efforts towards achieving the objectives of the European Union’s i2010 programme and becoming a full participant in the global Information Society.  The Stability Pact Broadband South East Europe Taskforce (bSEE) is working to promote regional broadband infrastructure in support of the implementation of eGovernance programmes.

The main objectives of the Centre are promoting the development of eGovernance programmes within South Eastern Europe, on the basis of a public-private partnership, through dissemination of information and best practices, and facilitating training and advising leaders and regional governments in the use of information and communication technologies to increase efficiency and citizen participation.

The CeGD effort enjoys wide and growing support and interest.   The United States is offering financial support.  Interested potential partners include the World Bank, the Central European Initiative, and CSI Piemonte.  The European Commission’s DG for Information Society and Media welcomes the CeGD undertaking given that the Centre will underpin implementation of regional governments’ commitments to the eSEE Agenda Plus and promote eGovernance in the region. 

Opening the signing ceremony today, Minister for Public Administration of Republic of Slovenia, Mr Gregor Virant said: “Serving as a bridge between EU and South East Europe, Slovenia is very interested to pass its knowledge and experience in the field of eGovernance to the countries of the region, especially given its high performance and achievements in the e-public administration reforms (…) The Centre will promote eGovernance solutions as a powerful tool for transparent and user friendly public administration“.

eSEE Initiative and CeGD Supervisory Board Chairperson, Dr Diana Simic, highlighted the importance of having both public and private stakeholders in the Centre, saying that “this kind of co-operation and co-ordination of various ICT projects will raise regional competitiveness and improve implementation of public reforms throughout the region…”

Mr Michael Mozur, Deputy Special Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact for SEE, noted: “The Stability Pact’s eSEE initiative is moving from a successful framework to a true operational effort to generate meaningful change and progress in South East Europe, with promotion of eGovernance as the key.  The CeGD’s work will reflect the priorities of the eSEE government participants and benefit from very promising synergies between the public and private sectors.  The region’s people will benefit from the CeGD as government administrations modernize and connect more effectively and efficiently with their citizens”.

The Centre and its administrative office in Ljubljana will serve as the region’s eGovernance focal point.  It will seek to facilitate and ensure effective co-ordination between regional governments, ongoing eGovernance programmes, institutions and experts.  It will focus its activities on specific eGovernance solutions of interest to SEE governments, including eGovernment, eDemocracy, eProcurement, eCustoms, eCommerce, eEducation, eHealth, eJustice, and eInclusion, and assist ICT users (governments, citizens, business community and academia) through a range of supporting activities, including workshops, project preparations, web portals.  It will work closely with the eSEE Initiative and the eSEE Secretariat office in Sarajevo.

The members of the eSEE initiative are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and UNMIK/Kosovo.

The members of the bSEE Taskforce are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and UNMIK/Kosovo.

Link to eSEE Initiative:            http://www.stabilitypact.org/e-see/default.asp

                                              http://www.eseeinitiative.org/

For further information, please contact Stability Pact's Spokesperson
Mr Georgi Gotev at the SP Secretariat in Brussels
(Tel: +32 2 401 87 25 or press@stabilitypact.org).
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PR2008/001