Baltic States – CIS, Estonia, Internet, Legislation, Technology

According to Estonia's Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, the purpose of the meeting is to support building the e-government information system in Kyrgyzstan and to provide consultations in preparation for the 2015 parliamentary elections. Kyrgyzstan's e-government coordination centre has been set the task of creating a secure environment for the exchange of information in order to provide citizens with electronic services, like the Estonian Information System.

Officials wish to make wider use of electronic data interchange possibilities at the parliamentary elections for the preparation of voters' lists and transmission of election results.

Paet stated that it is good that the scope of co-operation between Estonia and Kyrgyzstan is growing.

"Since last year, Estonia is helping to build up the information system of the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry's consular services, and in the future our IT cooperation will continue to expand," he added. "We are willing to share our experience in e-services with other countries which are interested."

Representatives of Kyrgyzstan are visiting the Parliament, Government Office, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and a number of other departments using e -government services.

Following the visit, Estonia and Kyrgyzstan plan to start working cooperatively on implementing the X-Road information systems' data exchange environment and other components for the building up of other Estonian information system components in Kyrgyzstan.

The delegation includes the Deputy Head of the Kyrgyzstan Government Office and head of the Center for e-governance, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Economy, Deputy Minister for Transport and Communication, Head of the Government Registration Board and several other senior representatives of the public sector. The delegation's visit is funded by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ development cooperation funds.

The first meeting between e-government developers from Estonia and Kyrgyzstan was in 2001. The beginning of substantive cooperation between the two countries can be considered to be the summer of 2013, when at an e-government conference organised by Kyrgyzstan on June 6, 2014, Estonia was asked to introduce its e-government successes and international cooperation experience. As a result, the government of Kyrgyzstan decided to start building its own e-government system and expressed a desire to take advantage of Estonians' experience. By early 2014, a corresponding concept document had been drawn up, which received Estonia's support during the visit in February of 2014.