The 3^rd UBC IS Com Meeting in Tampere

The 3^rd meeting of the UBC IS COM was held in connection with the seminar "Baltic Sea Cooperation in the Changing Europe - the 10^th Anniversary Seminar of the Baltic Institute of Finland" (BIF) organized in Tampere on October 20,2004.

The speakers of the high-level anniversary seminar of BIF included e.g. the Finnish Foreign Minister Mr. Erkki Tuomioja, St. Petersburg Vice Governor Mr. Valery Tikhonov, Director of Baltic Development Forum Mr. Ole Frijs-Madsen and Aft Adam Rotfeld, Secretary of State of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The UBC IS COM meeting took place in Tampere after the BIF seminar on Thursday 21 October, and it consisted of a general session and the following three workshops under the main theme "Promoting eGovernment in the Baltic Cities":

Workshop 1: eCards
Workshop 2: eParticipation
Workshop 3: eInfrastructure

New eGovernment related project initiatives between the Baltic Cities were discussed and elaborated in the workshops.

UBC IS COM aims at promoting and accelerating development of information society in the UBC member cities by facilitating exchange and dissemination of experiences, information, best practices and successful applications of technical innovations acquired in local information society activities. The goal is to enhance knowledge and capacities of the local authorities responsible for information society issues to design, develop and manage innovative information society policies and activities.

UBC IS COM activities follow and support the guidelines, strategies and general objectives set out in eEurope, eRussia, Northern eDimension and various national e-initiatives promoting the Information Society development in the Baltic Sea Region.

Dr. Sergey Zhdanov, Chairman of the Committee for Informatization and Communications of the St. Petersburg Administration, acts as the UBC IS COM Chairman. The Baltic Institute of Finland operates as the Commission Secretariat.