Activities and Results of Stability Pact eSEEurope Initiative

Mario Apostolov, Regional Adviser, UNECE Trade

Dr. Marijana Vidas-Bubanja, Chair, eSEEurope Initiative

UNCTAD-UNECE High-Level Regional Conference for Transition Economies "ICT & E-Commerce Strategies for Development"Palais des Nations, Geneva, 20-21 October 2003

Why is eSEEurope Initiative important for the region?

• ICT as development factor• Realize that digital technology has

become a key factor of economic growth and creating employment

• Synergy between the transition process and the transformation of the economies of SEEuropean countries into societies based on informatics and e-business

eSEEurope Initiative - background• Regional effort in Table II of the Stability Pact• Launched in Istanbul in October 2000• Constituted in January 2001• Important support by G. Britain and Sweden• In 2002: refocusing of eSEE in line with Pact`s

effort for regional ownership - chairmanship transferred to FRY/Serbia and Montenegro

• Participating countries now: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldova, the fYR Macedonia, and Serbia & Montenegro.

eSEEurope Initiative

• Staring with February 2002 eSEE Initiative managed to structure and consolidate an important process in the field of IS development in the region

• This is confirmed by concrete results and achievements

Main objective of the Initiative

• To support the development of Information Society in South Eastern Europe

• To focus on strategies and measures which promote the region as a whole

• To promote benchmarking, best practice and co-operation within the region

Some achieved results

1. Ministerial Joint Statement of Intent

2. Ministerial Regional Conference on Telecommunication Policy

3. Adoption of eSEEurope Agenda for the Development of the Information Society

Ministerial Joint Statement of Intent

• European Ministerial Conference in Ljubljana 3-4, June 2002

• Important step to engage the countries of SEE in processes similar to European defined in eEurope and eEurope+ Action Plans

Ministerial Joint Statement of Intent

• SEE countries are ready to create a proper environment for digital technology including regulatory framework and capacity building in line with European instruments, standards and timeframes

• Agreement to create eSEE Agenda

South Eastern Europe Conference on Policy and Cooperation in Telecommunications,

Belgrade, October, 28-29, 2002

Why this conference?• Services needed to be available on the basis of

a liberalized communication sector• Ministers from the region signed eSEE Agenda

for the Development of Information Society

What we want by this Agenda?• To accelerate reform and modernization of the

SEE economies, encourage capacity and institutional building, improve overall competitiveness and provide for actions which address the specific situation of the countries in the region

• To get strong political commitment for our actions in order to ensure their realization in practice

What we want by this Agenda?• To cluster our actions around the same

objectives as EU Member States and Candidate Countries;

The importance of objective O for the region -Accelerated putting in place of the basic building blocks of the Information Society

• To have positive impact on the process of stabilization and association of the countries from SEE region to EU

• Stress advantages of strategies and actions undertaken on regional level and the effectiveness of private/public partnership in this actions

Preamble of eSEE Agenda for IS

• Stress the importance of closer cooperation with EU and Candidate Countries on the Information Society issues and the importance of their support as well as support of other international organizations and institutions

• Define what are the priority measures to be undertaken by SEE countries

• Adoption of policy and strategy for IS• Adoption and implementation of legal

infrastructure for IS according to the acquis communitaire settled with EU countries

• Establishment of regional and national implementation mechanism

• Promotion of active IS for development

Commitments that should be undertaken by SEE Governments

How the international community can help?

• Political support and technical advice to bring developments in line with European experience

• Transfer of knowledge; exchange of information; sharing of experiences and best practices

Activities in 2003:eSEEurope Initiative is entering in the implementation phase of

eSEE Agenda !

Skopje WG Meeting, 4th February 2003Athens WG Meeting, 1st May 2003

Bled WG Meeting, 9th Jun 2003Tirana WG Meeting 25th September 2003

• Common Guidelines for National Strategies on the Development of Information Society

• Unified Terms of References for the Establishment of Cabinet Level Bodies for IS Development

• Ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Cyber Crime

• Benchmarking activities

The way ahead• To further promote and implement adopted Guidelines

for NISP and TOR for Cabinet level Bodies for IS development Promotion to implement the recommended policies and the supporting governmental structures

• eSEE WG activities: monitoring of the real implementation of the prepared documents; facilitation and coordination of the technical assistance;

• To strengthen dialogue between the signatories and supporting countries and organisation to facilitate and coordinate joint efforts

• Open up of new dimension of the eEurope+ by taking on board also the Signatories of eSEE Agenda

Conclusion:Regional cooperation is an important approach

for the IS developmentExpected results of eSEEurope Initiative are the

following:1) Strengthen promotion and co-ordination of

mutual interests in IS development2) Combine and synchronize activities and

scarce resources for IT development3) Stimulate innovation and exploit the

technology potentials of e-business

4)Promote and establishment of Business networking of the IT companies in SEE region

5) Create an integral central database of IT resources on national and regional level

6) Develop partnership with the public sector and universities for the realization of projects of interest of each state and the region as a whole

7) Promote and provide the investment in IT modernization regardless of industry/sector

8) Organize and introduce services such as e-commerce, e-banking, e-tourism,

e-agribusiness etc. 9) Start initiatives for human resources

development10) Jointly face competition in markets in the

Western countries 11) Joint marketing of efforts to help SEE

companies find business partners in Western Europe, etc.

• Contact:

• Dr. Vidas-Bubanja, Chair of eSEE:

e-mail: marijanav@ien.bg.ac.yu• Mario Apostolov, Regional Adviser, ECE:

e-mail: Mario.Apostolov@unece.org