Azerbaijan and Georgia are set to become digital hubs in a fibre-optic telecommunication ‘corridor’ linking Europe to Central and South Asia. AzerTelecom is implementing the major ‘Digital Silk Way’ project that aims to develop the region's digital ecosystem according to the world's most advanced standards. Within Azerbaijan, construction of fibre-optic cables is underway and phase one of a backbone link across the Caspian Sea has begun, to connect Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan by the end of 2024.

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!

The activities of the EU4Digital Facility are driven by the needs of countries in the Eastern Partnership region—Armenia, Azerbaijan, Republic of Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine. These activities are carried out in close cooperation with bilateral activities managed by EU Delegations as part of the EU-Eastern Partnership joint agenda. To maximise results during the EU4Digital Facility’s current, second phase, EU4Digital hosted a workshop in Brussels with key EU and Eastern partner country stakeholders on 18 October 2023. The meeting provided an opportunity for participants to review the project results, give feedback and explore how to accelerate the adoption of EU4Digital activities at national level.

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.

Students in Ukraine will experience more seamless information technology (IT) learning thanks to the ‘Updated Informatics – IT Studios’ project. The project is implemented within the EU4DigitalUA programme, financed by the European Union. On 26 September 2023, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine presented the project’s materials. These and updated educational resources are available to Ukraine’s educational institutions, professionals and all participants of the educational process via the Diia.Education platform. This systematised approach to IT learning is highly relevant for the Digital Skills thematic network of the EU4Digital Facility.

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.