[Index]
Digital Economy Development in South-East Europe
Geneva, 25 October 2001
The United Nations Economic Commission for
Europe organized the 2nd conference on Digital Economy Development
in South-East Europe in Bucharest on 4-5 October 2001. Officials and experts
from all over Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States met to discuss
the strategy and framework for further promoting the information society in
South-East Europe. The conference was held under the patronage of the
President of Romania, His Excellency E. Ion Iliescu.
The two-day programme consisted of six
plenary sessions, and two parallel sessions focusing on key issues of the
digital economy development in the region:
- National and regional E-initiatives, as well as
European Commission initiatives
- Infrastructure development for increasing access to
information
- E-business development, with special reference to the
payment systems, as a main way of enhancing the competitiveness and
innovation of SMEs
- E-government initiatives, specially emphasizing the
strategy and action plans for implementation
- Development of a legal framework specific to the new
economy
- E-capacity building, including problems and
achievements in the areas of learning and training.
The presentations and debates highlighted
the need to focus on the following issues:
- Implementation of a legal framework for the e-economy
- Role of government in stimulating the development of
high-standard e-services infrastructure and providing enabling environments
- Strengthening of cooperation with international
organizations, the European Commission and the UNECE
- Advocacy of an "open door" policy to mitigate
the impact of the brain drain
- Enhancement of institutional capacity for e-government
development
- Enhancement of a secure environment for doing
e-business
- Developing government strategies for reducing the
Digital Divide.
As part of a joint effort, the UNECE Team of
Specialists on Internet Enterprise Development and the Romanian Ministry of
Communications and Information Technology agreed to collaborate on the above
issues, including providing free Internet access for less privileged sectors
of the economy.
The Romanian Government has already
completed a project to put personal computers into 5,000 schools and expects
to have installed 500,000 by the year 2004. Depending on how this
collaboration progresses, the UNECE plans to expand this approach to other
countries in South-East Europe.
For more information about the Bucharest
conference and similar forthcoming events in central and eastern Europe,
please contact:
Mr. Daewon Choi
Programme Officer
Internet Enterprise Development
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone + 41 22 917 2474
Fax. + 41 22 917 0178
E-mail: [email protected]
Ref: ECE/TRADE/01/14