To the Information Society Together!

Nowadays advantages carried by development and distribution of information and communication technologies (ICT) are well comprehended. As it is emphasized in Okinawa Carters of a global information society, ICT is becoming the vital stimulus of the world economy development.

The achieved level of business cooperation within the UBC has allowed to approach closely the coordinated decision of questions of developing the information society within the framework of cooperation of the Baltic countries. At the meeting in Viljandi, 7-8 June 2002, the UBC Executive Board decided to create the Commission on Information Society led by the City of St. Petersburg. The purpose of activity of the new Commission will be to assist in developing the BSR countries due to active introduction of information and communication technologies in the activities of the state bodies, citizens and businesses.

To achieve this purpose, the IS Commission will operate in the following directions:

• Support the international programs of the European Community eEurope, eEurope+ and the national initiatives directed at the development of the Information Society in the countries of the Baltic region
• Carry out the work on coordination of efforts of cities - UBC members in their activity on the directions: e-Government, e-Learning, e-Security, e-Skills, e-Commerce, e-Environment, e- Indicators
• Develop offers on formation of a long-term state policy in the Baltic region countries in the field of information
• Assist in increasing an overall performance of UBC Commissions on the basis of introducing information technologies in their activity
• Assist in improving an information exchange between UBC members on the basis of using modern information and communication technologies
• Interact with the Commission on business cooperation in the field of developing information and communication technologies in the Baltic sea region.

Today we can speak about the first results of our work. Under the initiative of the city of Tampere (Finland) the seminar on questions of developing the basic directions of cooperation has taken place in Saint Petersburg in developing the Information Society. Businessmen and scientists of our two cities have already prepared interesting offers on realization of joint projects within the framework of inter-regional interaction. Among them there are creation of the joint Centers, projects Incubators, systems of remote training of municipal employees, information Internet - portals.