Digital is now central: reflections from EU4Digital Steering Committee 2023

Digital has become central to everyday life in the Eastern Partnership (EaP), so a coordinated approach to strategic planning, policy and legislation alignment and investment are now crucial. This was the key message that emerged from the 5th annual meeting of the EU4Digital Steering Committee held online on 15 November 2023.

The meeting attracted around 100 high-level participants from the Eastern partner countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine – as well as the EU4Digital Initiative and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR). They reviewed progress and priorities at national and European level regarding the digital transformation of the EaP region in the EU4Digital context. Now in its second phase, the EU4Digital Facility aims to scale up EU support for resilient digital transformation, extend the benefits of the Digital Single Market to the Eastern partner countries, and support the development of resilient digital economies and societies in the Eastern partner countries.

Gérald Audaz, Head of the Economic Development and Digital Transition Team for the Eastern Partnership, DG NEAR, opened the meeting. Reflecting on geopolitical and technological developments in the past year as well as discussions during the Digital Conference for the Eastern Partnership on 14 November, he said it’s clear that digital has now become central to our lives and to policy discussions. Factors such as the rapid rise and expansion of generative artificial intelligence across all sectors of the economy, the ever increasing market size of e-commerce and the increase of data traffic over the world, require constant upgrades of digital infrastructure and governance.

Digital is literally everywhere in our economic and political debate, essential to our lives. It’s the main vector of economic growth for all of our countries. It moves so fast that it compels us to constantly adapt our legal framework to be able to keep pace.

Gérald Audaz, Head of the Economic Development and Digital Transition Team, DG NEAR

The idea of digital as a ‘brand’ to be strengthened was raised by Arturas Piliponis, EU4Digital Facility Team Leader, EY. He highlighted communication and awareness building as an important part of the work done in EU4Digital and by stakeholders. Providing an overview and update on activities in the fields of Telecom Rules, eTrust, eCommerce, eHealth, Digital Skills and ICT innovation, he noted that several recent developments had arisen only this calendar year.

It is quite dynamic in the EU4Digital programme; we’ve completed or we’re actively implementing or starting new activities. We’re doing this in partnership not just with Eastern partner representatives, EU Delegations or the European Commission, but also with many other organisations and international donors. So we look forward to continuing that and thank you!

Arturas Piliponis, EU4Digital Facility Team Leader, EY

EU4Digital projects

One of the flagship projects under the EU4Digital banner is ‘EU4Digital: Connecting Research and Education Communities (EaPConnect)’, led by GÉANT – the collaboration of European national research and education networks (NRENs). EaPConnect project manager Irina Matthews gave practical examples of digital being central to research that impacts everyday life, with weather forecasting in Armenia, earthquake prediction in Azerbaijan and healthcare solutions in Moldova. She anticipates that Georgia’s climate change-related research infrastructures will experience increased data processing demand now that the topic is firmly on the political agenda. Conversely, she also showed how digital depends on a very human dimension: fundraising and other support from the GÉANT community provided the Ukrainian NREN with a generator to mitigate electricity shortages and help maintain R&E connectivity despite the ongoing conflict with Russia.

With less welcome human behaviour in mind, Tanel Tang, Team Leader of the Support Group for Ukraine, DG NEAR, presented updates from two projects addressing cyberattacks and cybercrime in the region. The CyberEast project, managed in collaboration with the Council of Europe, helps countries to implement the Budapest cybercrime convention and has been focusing on using electronic evidence in identifying and prosecuting cybercrimes. The EU4Digital: Cybersecurity East project boosts technical and cooperative preparedness for cyberattacks, addressing governance and legal aspects, protection of critical information and infrastructure, as well as increasing crisis management and operational capabilities. A new phase of this programme is now preparing to launch.

Two new projects under the EU4Digital banner were introduced during the meeting, with full announcements expected during the coming months. Michel Rogy, Digital Development Practice Manager for the Europe and Central Asia region and the Middle East and North Africa region with the World Bank described phase two of the 2018-2020 EU4Digital Broadband Strategies initiative. First phase efforts included gap analysis and benchmarking, legal and regulatory framework improvements, knowledge sharing and investment opportunity identification. The new phase will aim at mobilising further public and private investment for broadband development projects under the EU’s Economic and Investment Plan for the region and Global Gateway strategy, and ensure alignment with national broadband development programmes. Thibault Charlet, Programme Manager Digital Transition and Economic Development, DG NEAR said that a 20 million euro programme to support incubation of digital start-ups in the EaP region is anticipated in 2024. This will build on assessment of the start-up ecosystem maturity during phase one of the EU4Digital Facility, and will work with the national innovation agencies, incubators and start-ups on business development, convergence with EU markets and ecosystems and empowerment of national and regional structures to generate bankable start-ups that are ready for investment.

Eastern partner country priorities

In the final part of the Steering Committee meeting, representatives of the Eastern partner countries and EU Delegations discussed their digital transformation state of play and priorities.

• Ukraine:
  Represented by Olha Krevska, Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and Svitlana Didkivska, EU Delegation to Ukraine
  Modernisation of the integrated electronic identification system, cybersecurity and trust services are top priorities. Around 120 electronic public services are already used by 19 million Ukrainians. The national innovation strategy will be developed with research centres, private sector partners, international donors and other expert support. To develop the human capital to power the digital economy, the MRIIA application/platform for educational institutions, students, teachers will soon be available. A national platform for digital literacy and reskilling has already been launched. A technical cooperation project provides EU support to the Ministry for Transformation and the national regulator in updating and implementing digital economy commitments in the framework of the EU Association Agreement. The Digital Society and Economy Index (DESI) implementation work is very important in this regard.
• Moldova:
  Represented by Vitalie Boboc, Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalisation of Moldova and Miroslav Bozic, EU Delegation to Moldova
  As the European Commission has recommended opening EU accession negotiations with Moldova, the country will further accelerate its digital transformation. The main priority remains integration into the EU Digital Single Market by developing and consolidating the normative framework for the ICT field, strengthening digital connectivity infrastructure, stimulating the development of the digital economy, increasing the level of digital public services and aligning national legislation with that of the EU.
• Armenia:
  Represented by Gevorg Mantashyan, Deputy Minister of High-Tech Industry of the Republic of Armenia and David Avakian, EU Delegation to Armenia
  The digitalisation strategy adopted two years ago is being updated – using decisions based on data evidence from the digital platforms – and the state budget for digitalisation has increased. Best practices from neighbouring countries are very welcome, and alignment on roaming and other topics is key. Enabling access to broadband infrastructure for start-ups and other companies as is crucial for them to grow and get the best resources. 
• Georgia:
  Represented by Eka Kubusidze, Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia and Lieze Vanwymelbeke, Attaché – Team Leader, Green Deal, Connectivity, Economic and Investment Plan
  Gaining recognition of Georgian e-signatures by EU Member States is one of the most important issues for development of the digital economy. Integration into the EU roam-like-at-home space is also a key priority and work is underway to approximate Georgia’s legislation with EU regulations. Elaboration of the national strategy for development of the digital economy and information society is in its final stages The goal is to maximise the country’s function as a digital transit corridor connecting Europe and Asia. The EU-Georgia economic and investment plan includes digitalisation in two of the six flagship priorities: sub-marine fibre-optic cable under the Black Sea and high-speed broadband roll-out in rural areas.
• Azerbaijan:
  Represented by Jeyhun Hajiyev, Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan and Ulviya Abdullayeva, EU Delegation to Azerbaijan
  Strategies for broadband and data governance have been under development and national digital literacy levels have been assessed. The priorities are a sustainable, growing, competitive economy, a society based on dynamic, inclusive, and social justice, as well as competitive human capital and modern innovation spaces. A social economic development strategy also includes over 60 digitalisation-related actions that rely on a strong institutional foundation of broadband access for their effective implementation. A data governance council has been proposed, which would represent public and private interests from the ministries and companies, with the addition of small and medium sized businesses at a later date.

The Steering Committee concluded that great strides have been made in recent years, putting digital firmly in the centre of national and regional development strategies, as well as everyday lives. But coordinating between different ministries that need to take digital into account, ensuring synergies between ministries, donors, Eastern partner countries and other stakeholders, and securing investment to support the implementation for digital transformation goals are all vital in the coming years of work together in EU4Digital.

Further information

The EU4Digital Steering Committee meeting is a formal, by-invitation internal event for officially appointed sponsors and stakeholders. These annual discussions are dedicated to the flagship regional EU4Digital Initiative. This was the fifth annual EU4Digital Steering Committee meeting. It was preceded by the Digital Conference for the Eastern Partnership on 14 November 2023. Together, these are among the main events dedicated to discussing the joint European Union (EU)-Eastern Partnership (EaP) digital agenda. These yearly events strengthen the relationship between EU4Digital Facility and its stakeholders from Eastern partner countries and EU Member States. In this way, stakeholders are empowered to increase their engagement with and ownership of the results generated by the project.

Highlights of the Digital Conference and the Steering Committee meeting will be published in a special edition of the EU4Digital newsletter. To receive such updates by email, please subscribe to the newsletter.

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