Estonia to help Ukraine set up E-Government
Between 10 and 11 June, a Ukrainian delegation headed by Mikhail Fedorov, advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky, visited Estonia, the Presidential Administration announced on its website.
The primary purpose of the work visit was to obtain a professional appraisal of the “E-Government” concept and to solicit Estonia’s expertise.
“Estonia was the first in the world to introduce the electronic interaction of registers and ID cards, hold electronic elections, reach an online services figure of 99%, and offer the option of ‘electronic citizenship’ – this country’s experience is truly impressive. Our goal is to adopt the most modern and innovative technologies and approaches for the implementation of the ‘government on a smartphone’ concept, in order to make a rapid leap, skipping several evolutionary phases where possible,” Fedorov said.
The Ukrainian delegation took part in more than 10 meetings, including with Estonia’s Chief Information Officer, the State Secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers, and representatives of the European Commission, Foreign Ministry, Information Systems Agency, Registry Center, and E-Government Academy.
“The important thing is that we received positive feedback from the Estonian experts regarding our plans, and also reached an agreement regarding concrete support with the auditing of the registers, the development of the ‘Trembita’ system, modern electronic SmartID identification and the introduction of e-Residency. In each meeting, we sensed absolute openness and a desire to help Ukraine. It’s very encouraging,” Zelensky’s advisor added.
Oleksiy Vyskub, First Deputy Chairperson of Ukraine’s State Agency for E-Government, said that the active development of the Trembita system, which Ukraine began working on at the end of May, should lead to the full re-engineering of all the ineffective, bureaucratized and corrupt processes.
Once enough of Ukraine’s institutions are linked to the system, “every citizen will feel that the services have become easier and more convenient, and the state more transparent and effective,” Vyksub remarked.
The Ukrainian Presidential Administration also said that expert consultations on the E-Government concept would begin this week. Afterwards, a document will be published with a detailed plan of action for 2019 and strategic goals up until 2024.