17th Bled eCommerce Conference

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eSEE Initiative Developing the Information
Society in South Eastern Europe
Bernard Snoy. Director Working Table II Stability
Pact for South Eastern Europe

• 17th Bled e-Commerce Conference

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What is the eSEE Initiative?
eSEE, the electronic South Eastern Europe
Initiative was launched in 2000 under the
auspices of the Stability Pact for South Eastern
Europe with the following objectives

• To support the development of the 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
• To facilitate projects in e-Governance,
  e-Business, e-Education and e-Health

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eSEE Initiative Participants

• Albania
• Bosnia Herzegovina
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Macedonia

• Moldova
• Romania
• Serbia and Montenegro
• UNMIK (acting on the basis of UN Resolution
  1244)

Bulgaria and Romania have subsequently become
part of the eEurope process
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eSEE Initiative Supporters

• Austria, Greece, Hungary, Slovenia, Sweden, UK
  and US (Commercial Law Development Programme)
• European Commission (DG Enterprise and
  Information Society)
• World Bank, EBRD
• UNDP, UNECE
• INA/SEETA (Greece)

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Importance for the Region

• ICT as development and catching-up factor
• Realisation that the application of digital
  technology has become a key factor for economic
  growth and employment creation
• Synergy between the transition process and the
  process of transforming the economic systems of
  the SEEurope countries into societies based on
  information technologies

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Results

• Joint Ministerial Statement of Intent
  (Ljubljana, June 2002)
• Ministerial Regional Conference on
  Telecommunication Policy(Belgrade, October 2002)
• Adoption of eSEEurope Agenda for the Development
  of the Information Society(Belgrade, October
  2002)

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eSEE Agenda

• Signatories
• Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FR
  Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), Macedonia and
  Moldova
• Commitments
• Adoption of national polices and strategies for
  IS
• Adoption and implementation of Acquis
  Communautaire
• Establishment of regional and national
  implementation mechanisms
• Promotion of active IS for development.

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Liberalisation of Electronic Communications

• Adoption of Acquis Communautaire includes
  liberalisation of electronic communications
• Liberalisation and legal certainty are key
  preconditions for attracting foreign investment
  in SEEurope and obtaining full benefits of ICT.

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eSEE Working Group Results

• Meetings in 2003 Skopje (February), Athens
  (May), Bled (June), Tirana (September), Brussels
  (December)
• Common Guidelines for National Information
  Society Policies
• Unified Terms of Reference for Information
  Society State Bodies
• Participation to Conference on Data Protection
  and Security (Belgrade 2003) and WSIS (Geneva
  2003)
• Benchmarking activities.

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eSEE Working Group Results (continued)

• Participation to European Ministerial Conference
  on Information Society (EMCIS), Budapest, 26-27
  February 2004
• Joint Statement of the e-SEE Ministers
• Presentation on behalf of all of them by
  Croatian Minister of Science, Education and
  Sports
• Support in Conference Conclusions
• Meetings in 2004 Podgorica (April)
• Cavtat (June)
• E-Governance Training, Talinn, May-June

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eSEE Joint Statement to the EMCIS Conference

• Reiterating commitment to
• Develop an inclusive Information Society
• Apply the same norms and standards as practiced
  in the EU, including the new EU framework for
  electronic communications networks
• Implement eSEE Agenda
• Joint Appeal for
• More support from EU countries in learning from
  best practices and lessons learned, especially
  from the accession and candidate countries
• A closer association of the eSEE Initiative with
  the eEurope 2005 Action Plan.

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Priorities until end of 2004(after the eSEE
Joint Statement)

• To further promote and implement the adopted
  Guidelines for the NISP and the ToR for
  Information Society State Bodies
• To benchmark and monitor the effective
  implementation of the commitments
• To strengthen dialogue between the signatories
  and supporting countries and organisations
• To facilitate and coordinate technical assistance
  and joint efforts

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Matrix on status of fulfillment of eSEE Agenda
serves as

• An international benchmarking for the eSEE
  Working Group
• A platform for the signatories to share the
  update on the progress made in their respective
  countries
• For more information please see the Stability
  Pact web site http//www.stabilitypact.org/e-see/d
  efault.asp
• Basic documents