On September 29, AGBU Yerevan hosted a conference on electronic governance (e-governance) organized by the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia, the Embassy of the Republic of Estonia in Armenia and the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies. The conference was attended by government officials, representatives of international organizations, IT experts and representatives of diasporan organizations, among many others.
The main goal of the conference was to raise public awareness about e-governance, discuss the next steps in making information and services as user-friendly and accessible as possible by harmonizing different systems as well as finding ways for more active and effective involvement of the diaspora in the electronic governance system of Armenia.
“…Electronic governance makes life easier for people and it makes it a lot easier to govern the country. It also delivers a positive message to the whole world that Armenia is getting better. It’s modernizing. Armenia has built up a lot of digital resources and now [it] should start using them. This is not only the Armenian government’s stance; this is also my personal conviction as an independent expert,” said Ivar Tallo, Founder of e-Governance Academy, Estonia.
Opening remarks were delivered by Vache Gabrielyan, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and the Minister of International Economic Integration and Reforms; Vasken Yacoubian, AGBU Central Board member; Priit Turk, ambassador of Estonia to Armenia; and Piotr Switalski, head of the EU Delegation to Armenia.
The conference focused on the results of the e-governance initiatives implemented in Armenia and the key steps for future development of the field, including the creation of an atmosphere of trust. Emphasizing the importance of the conference in raising public awareness about e-governance, Yacoubian spoke about the diaspora’s involvement in the system: “The capabilities of this platform are huge and we should think about how we can use these capabilities, how we can consolidate and coordinate our resources both in Armenia and the diaspora, to strengthen the nation, as well as how we can make this platform accessible to those in the diaspora, involve the diaspora in e-Governance and thus help Armenia,” said Yacoubian.
Among the panelists of the conference were Karen Gharslyan, president of HAIK-AGBU Germany; David Harutyunyan, chief-of-staff of the Republic of Armenia; Raffi Kassarjian, chairman of Repat Armenia; Vahe Keushguerian, chairman of the Impact Hub Board of Trustees; Artak Melkonian, senior advisor at UNDP Armenia; Aram Orbelyan, senior partner at Concern Dialog; Pegor Papazian, board member of Tumo Center for Creative Technologies; Stepan Petrosyan, advisor to the Minister of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia; Kristi Raidma, program manager at European Union Delegation to Armenia; and Sergey Tantushian, deputy CEO at IDeA Foundation. Hoa-Binh Adjemian, head of cooperation at European Union Delegation to Armenia, was the host of the conference.
