At the invitation of PDP II, colleagues from the parliaments of Greece, Latvia and the Czech Republic actively participated in a three-day series of meetings in Ukraine devoted to discussing E-governance and E-Democracy at the National Academy for Public Administration, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Participants of these meetings discussed the principles of E-Parliament and E-Government and E-Democracy in Ukraine and in Europe. The Head of the Global Centre for ICT for Parliaments Gherado Casini shared the summary report of the World E-Parliament Conference held in Washington DC in November 2009 as well as the preliminary findings of a survey of 188 legislatures throughout the world. The Latvian Saeima’s Head of IT Anita Dudina noted that there are two faces of IT in parliaments and shared the Latvian experience in meeting the needs of both the public and the organization in creating, storing and disseminating information on the work of parliament. Eleni Droulia of the Greek Parliament, noted that in Greece the Parliament is referred to as the Voulia (The Will of the People), emphasized the importance of the preservation of parliamentary documentation for the current work of parliament as well as a historical record of a democratic nation. She noted that it is important to consider long-term preservation of documentation born digital as current electronic records are extremely fragile and potentially unstable in terms of preservation. Karel Sosna, the Director of the Czech Parliamentary Library, noted that special projects in developing digital parliamentary records can serve to emphasize the role of parliament in society and can serve to help the nation understand the role that parliament plays, in law-making, but also in ensuring both a national heritage and a contemporary dialog. Merab Gostridze, a guest of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy from the Georgian Parliament, explained what steps had been taken and challenges met in his parliament in recent years as it moves closer to an establishing an e-parliament.

The papers and presentations of the E-Parliament and E-Democracy section at the Third Annual E-Governance Conference organized by the National Academy for Public Administration were organized by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine with PDP II and are available on the PDP II website.

The Section on E-Parliament and E-Democracy

Moderators: Oleksiy Sydorenko, Head of ICT, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
Ellie Valentine, Director in Ukraine, Parliamentary Development Project of Ukraine II

Mr. Gherardo Casini, Head of the Global Centre for ICT for Parliaments, on the World E-Parliament Report issued April 2010

Oleksiy Sydorenko, Head of ICT Division for the Ukrainian Parliament -- The draft Strategy for introducing an E-parliament in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

A Panel on the overview of experience in introducing elements of E-parliaments in European Parliaments:

• Eleanor Valentine, Director of the Parliamentary Development Project for Ukraine – Overview
• Anita Dudina, the Director of the Information Department of Saeima of the Republic of Latvia – HR and Management Implications for the Introduction of E-Parliament
• Karel Sosna, Director of the Parliamentary Library of the Czech Republic – Introducing E-Library and E-Research to the Czech Parliament
• Eleni Droulia, Head of Special Programs for the Hellenic Parliamentary Library – E-Services of Parliament as an Element of Public Outreach
• Oleksandr Ryabulets, ICT Division Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine – E-Parliament Experience in Ukraine in European Perspective.
• Merab Gotsiridze, Head of IT Department of Georgian Parliament.

At an extension on April 29 at the VRU Plenary Session Hall and Committee on European Integration, VRU staff continued with presentations on current and projected IT systems for parliamentary documentation and communication

• Liudmila Izotova, ICT Division Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine  -- E-resources Use in Parliament
• Yevhen Chuban, ICT Division Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine – Open Standards in E-Parliament

The presentations at the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine E-Governance Day Roundtable on April 29 also emphasized the need to highlight integrity, transparency, and representation in governance.

On April 30 Ms. Dudina and Ms. Droulia traveled to Simferopol where they engaged the senior staff of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in dialog on what the strategy might be for the VR ARC to increase its accessibility and outreach through the use of E-governance tools. Four VR ARC staff who participated in the Kyiv meetings shared their impressions after presentations by their Latvian and Greek colleagues. The strategy set out will include both improvements to document management and a review of the IT existing systems and its use in the VR ARC and by the public.