Baltic States – CIS, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Security, Technology, Ukraine

The Estonian e-Governance Academy carried out a procurement in the EGOV4UKRAINE project of the U-LEAD support program of the Ukrainian administrative reform, according to which Ukraine's intergovernmental secure data exchange solution will be created by an Estonian-Ukrainian business consortium, including Cybernetica AS and Soft Xpansion Ukraine, the e-Governance Academy told BNS.

The data exchange solution will give state institutions and service centers access to information in national registers and through that give them the opportunity to render fast and good quality public services. The data exchange solution will be introduced by the end of 2017.

Oleksandr Ryzhenko, head of the Ukrainian State Agency for e-Governance, said that the data exchange solution between authorities is for the rendering of key infrastructure's e-services. "E-services shape Ukraine's economic activity, increase competitiveness and offer citizens the freedom to use public services 24/7 wherever is most comfortable for them," Ryzhenko said. "Data must move, not people."

Mari Pedak, team leader of the e-Governance Academy's EGOV4UKRAINE project, said that more than 500 Ukrainian public service centers will start offering services to citizens on the basis of the data exchange solution between authorities. The data exchange solution will be used by authorities also when creating e-services for citizens. "With the development of e-services, the Ukrainian government will decrease red tape and the risk of corruption, as the processing of data will become more transparent and faster," Pedak said.

The UXP (Unified eXchange Platform) data exchange solution to be rooted in Ukraine is an expansion of the X-Road, which has been in use in Estonia since 2001 and has so far functioned without error. The same solution is in use also in Finland, Namibia and Haiti.

Riho Kure, project manager at Cybernetica AS, the company to implement the solution, said that Ukraine is the largest country to have introduced the solution so far. "The Ukrainian project is a noteworthy development for Cybernetica. UXP is a product with a very high potential and large projects will amplify it further. For the project we are developing a separate cryptic solution specific to the Ukrainian state, which will definitely give us a valuable experience," Kurg said.

The e-Governance Academy in spring 2017 carried out the procurement for the solution in the framework of the EGOV4UKRAINE project of the U-LEAD support program of the Ukrainian administrative reform. The Estonian e-Governance Academy is in charge of heading the EGOV4UKRAINE project and the introduction of the solution is supported by the European Union and the Swedish and Estonian development cooperation programs.