On 4-5 October, Estonia is hosting a conference aimed at developing e-governance and enhancing cybersecurity in the European Union’s Eastern Partner countries. The event, which focuses on using information and communication technologies to boost government transparency, is being organised as part of the country’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The ‘e-Partnership Conference’is taking place in Tallinn, bringing together more than 150 experts and policy makers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, as well as EU member states.
“The EU continues to work closely with its Eastern partners in the digital area, focusing on promoting high-speed broadband internet to boost economies and expand e-services, creating more jobs in the digital industry and reducing roaming tariffs among the Eastern partner countries,” said European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, Andrus Ansip.
“Using digital solutions brings efficiency and transparency to governance and benefits to citizens.”
The conference also aims to provide an opportunity to assess the safety and security of cyberspace across the region and to exchange ideas for improvement.
A new study on e-democracy based on field research in all six partner countries is scheduled to be released at the event by the Estonian e-Governance Academy. The launch will be live-streamed here.
The e-Partnership Conference is organized by the Estonian Centre of Eastern Partnership (ECEAP) and the e-Governance Academy (EGA), in partnership with the European Commission and the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is part of a series of events organized in preparation for the 5th Eastern Partnership Summit, which will be held in Brussels on 24 November.
The European Union has invested €13 million in the framework of EaP Connect, a project aimed at improving high-speed digital connections between the six partner countries. The project runs from 2015 until 2020.
