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.

Human-centred needs and benefits must be kept in mind as we aim for digital transformation, agreed participants in the EU4Digital Digital Conference for the Eastern Partnership (EaP) on 14 November 2023. The event theme, ‘Digital strategic autonomy: leveraging digital technologies to empower societies and economies’, provided scope to explore how digital connectivity and newer technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) can unlock innovation in working towards resilient government, economy and society.

Representatives of institutions that collect Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) related indicators in Eastern partner countries are invited to participate in an EU4Digital Facility event online on 24 November 2023. In the event, experts from the EU4Digital Digital Skills thematic area will present analysis of DESI implementation, discuss regional and national recommendations around the adoption of full DESI measurement, and reflect on insights and milestones from the DESI Accelerator activity.

With the growth of online provision of health, educational, financial, business and governance services, digital connectivity has become increasingly crucial to everyday life. Following a pathway to digital connectivity improvement in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) region, EU4Digital Facility has been closely cooperating with the Eastern partner countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine since 2019. Together, they promote and facilitate access to high-speed, secure and sustainable digital connectivity at affordable prices for citizens and businesses. So, what has been achieved and how does this support wider policy goals for EaP digital transformation?

The process of drafting, monitoring and reporting the implementation of public policy documents in the Republic of Moldova will be digitalised and become more efficient. The Government of Moldova, with EU support, has initiated this digital transformation and, on 8 November 2023, approved the concept of an ’e-Monitoring’ information system that will serve as a common digital platform for public authorities in the country.

Registration is open for the 2023 Digital Conference for the Eastern Partnership. EU4Digital Facility is organising this online event at 10:00-12:00 CET on 14 November to highlight and support digital transformation in the Eastern partner countries. This year, the conference’s central theme is ‘Digital strategic autonomy: leveraging digital technologies to empower societies and economies’. Anyone interested in participating will be welcome: please sign up!

On 8 November 2023, the European Commission recommended that the Council of the European Union opens EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, and grants candidate country status to Georgia on the understanding that a number of steps are taken. The Commission also adopted the 2023 Enlargement Package, in which the progress of these countries was assessed for the first time.

Concrete next steps in Eastern Partnership broadband development were agreed in a meeting of the Independence of Regulators and Broadband Expert Working Group (IRB EWG) in Yerevan, Armenia on 25-26 October 2023. The main focus was wholesale broadband access market analysis and monitoring of broadband access.

This year's European Cybersecurity Month – October – will dive deep into the world of social engineering, where cybercriminals use clever tactics such as phishing and impersonation to breach our security defenses. The 2023 theme ‘Be Smarter than a Hacker’ refers to the knowledge and tools needed to protect ourselves from cybercriminals.

The value of digital technologies in maintaining trade routes between Ukraine, Moldova and European Union countries was highlighted in the International Trade Facilitation Forum on 12 October 2023. The European Border Assistance Mission to the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM) and the Customs Service of the Republic of Moldova organised the hybrid event, which was held in Chisinau and online. EU4Digital participated in the meeting, where its eCustoms activity was mentioned as one of the solutions for trade facilitation within the EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes initiative.

EU4Digital Facility kicked off new eCustoms pilot activities on 27 September 2023. The new pilots, between participating customs authorities of Ukraine, Moldova and Romania, build on previous successes. These pilots are part of a wider programme of EU4Digital eTrade activities to develop cross-border trade in the Eastern Partnership.

The Customs Service of the Republic of Moldova held an event on 26 September 2023 to launch a New Computerised Transit System (NCTS) implementation project. The project is financed by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The NCTS will allow Moldova to contribute to the expansion of international transit operations and will benefit business and cross-border trade.