E-government means use of modern technologies for satisfaction of needs of the people and not the state

According to experts’ opinion, the absence of a concept, strategy and program of development of the electronic government became one of the main factors for hampering processes of implementation of the electronic government in Ukraine. Those documents are non-existent despite the effectiveness of the adopted Law of Ukraine “On main foundations for development of information society in Ukraine till the year of 2015”.

Last week, the Public Council of the State Committee for Informatization of Ukraine and the Council of Entrepreneurs of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine conducted a public discussion of a draft of the Concept of Development of Electronic Government in Ukraine. The Concept was developed under the support of the International Renaissance Foundation and with participation of international experts, representatives of the Academy of Electronic Government (Tallinn, Estonia). The participants of the discussion approved this document and addressed to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine with a number of proposals regarding a strategy and a program of implementation of this Concept.

The proposals entail creation of such mechanisms of electronic government in Ukraine that would ensure enhancement of effectiveness of activity of state authority bodies, speedy development and enhancement of democracy, strengthening of institutional capability of bodies of authority, effective fight against corruption and enhancement of competitiveness of bodies of authority and the society in general.

In their speeches during the press conference, Deputy Head of the State Committee for Informatization of Ukraine Andriy Semenchenko, Member of the Consultative Council on Informatization of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Baranov, Head of the Board of the Internet Association of Ukraine (InAU) Tetiana Popova and President of the Association “Information Technologies of Ukraine” Ihor Lysytsky assessed the current state and pressing tasks concerning development of all three elements of the electronic government: inter-department relations within the state apparatus, relations of the government with business, and relations of the government with citizens.

At the same time, it was noted that the main priority of the current stage of development of the electronic government in Ukraine is not only informatization of the existing system of state administration, but also use of capabilities of information and communication technologies for the country’s transition to the state that will be focused on satisfaction of needs of the people and citizens and that entails, first and foremost, the following:

• Raising of quality and accessibility of state services for citizens;
• Ensuring of control over performance of activity of authority bodies of all levels;
• Provision of possibilities for direct participation of citizens in processes of preparation and assessment of drafts of decisions that are to be made on all levels of state administration.

Summarizing the results of the press conference, the organizers noted that implementation of mechanisms of electronic government on all state, social and business levels will provide a real response to numerous challenges in the area of state administration that the Ukrainian society faces today.

The Public Council of the State Committee for Informatization of Ukraine was created according to the instruction of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, dated as of October 15, 2004, #1378, “Certain issues regarding participation of the public in shaping and implementation of state policy” – http://dki.org.ua