Within the framework of the project funded by the European Commission, aimed at “Improving Cooperation in South-East Europe by Actions for Strengthening the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC)”, the Central European Initiative organised a workshop on e-diplomacy at the RCC Headquarters in Sarajevo on 25 – 26 June 2012.
The workshop aimed at illustrating RCC senior staff the great potential of existing Information and Communication Technologies when applied to diplomacy and international / multilateral cooperation, as clearly demonstrated by best practices and experiences already applied by institutional players.
Among the panelists, introduced by CEI Alternate Secretary General Mr. Giorgio Rosso Cicogna were Anders Norsker, Chief of the Information Services Department at the International Communication Union (the United Nations specialised agency for telecommunications); Jovan Kurbalija, founder and director of DIPLOFOUNDATION, CEI Partner based in Geneva (a non-governmental organization totally dedicated to the mission of introducing ICT in diplomacy and in international relations / cooperation); and Blaz Golob, founder and director of the Centre for e-Governance Development (CeGD), based in Ljubljana (organization which has inherited this specific task from the former Stability Pact for the Balkans).
This EU-funded project - managed by the CEI - envisages, inter alia, the pilot establishment and operation, by the end of 2012, of a dedicated high-definition and user-friendly teleconference network. The facility will act as a bridge between and among the Ministries of RCC Member Countries and is meant to enhance the efficiency of the RCC Secretariat’s activities.
A possible follow up is the elaboration of a new project to be submitted to the European Commission, involving other stakeholders in order to enhance regional cooperation in various fields.