Ukraine to study Estonian experience of introducing e-government

Ukraine is interested in studying the international experience of building the "electronic government". This announcement was made by Natalia Korolevskaya, Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, after presentation of "Electronic Government of Estonia" at Demonstration Center of IT Technology of Estonia, the Information-Analytical Bulletin of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine informs.

Korolevskaya said she familiarized herself with the operation of "electronic government" used in Estonia. Scale of our countries is different, but many things can be adapted. We agreed on cooperation with Estonian partners, in order to study their experience of launching the "electronic government."

Experts say Estonia completely dropped paper documentation and switched to "electronic government" in 2000. This process was accompanied by preparing the legal framework and resources, as well as providing educational programs for citizens.

Estonia, along with Singapore, is today one of the leading countries in the world that have introduced the electronic systems for administrative and social services. According to Natalia Korolevskaya, 93% of population has special ID cards replacing the basic documents, passport and driving license. She said that with that card, one can participate in elections (25% of votes), register a business (18 minutes), file the tax returns (95% of submitted documents), receive electronic prescriptions from a doctor (95% of drugs are sold on such prescriptions), and register the entire package of social services.

For technical feasibility of such system, almost entire territory of Estonia is covered by 4G Internet.

Experts say Ukraine is aiming to introduce that model. At the current stage, the priority is to build a qualitatively new system of social services – transparent, user-friendly, and capable to ensuring a targeted work with people.