Changes in the UBC IS Com

The meeting of the UBC Information Society Commission (UBC IS Com) was held on 27 October in St. Petersburg in Smolny (the City Government). The subject was "Participation of the cities in creation of integrated information space of the Baltic Sea Region".

The meeting was aimed at discussing the role in developing of the mutual interaction in the field of information society and information technologies between the UBC member cities. Another goal was specifying joint priority directions for further cooperation to ensure grounds for creation of long-term projects considering the preparation to the II World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society (Bilbao, 9-11 November, 2005).

Evgeny Tsivirko, chairman of the Committee on IT Innovations and Communications of the Government of St. Petersburg, became the new chair of the IS Com.

Within the course of the IS Com meeting the participants made their reports devoted to the state of art and main trends of development of the information society and IT in their cities. The participants have discussed perspective directions of cooperation within the IS Com framework.

In his report E.Tsivirko marked the potential and prospects of St. Petersburg in the international cooperation development in the BSR. He stressed the role of the UBC as the organization that appeared to be the most important ground to take decisions. E. Tsivirko also highlighted the state of art of IT innovations in his city: Information society processes in St.-Petersburg are objective processes ensuring formation and development of integrated economic space, that is mutually connected to trade markets functioning, markets of information and knowledge, capital and labour. Evgeny Tsivirko suggested the participants of the meeting to take an active part in the Commission's activities. The joint Action Plan of the UBC IS Com for the year 2006 was adopted. Also, on 27 October Smolny hosted the meeting of the Senior Officials on Information Society of the Council of the Baltic Sea States.