The World Wide Web at the service of

small business

INFORMATION SOCIETY > BELARUS

This publication does not represent the offi cial view of the EC or the EU institutions. The EC accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to its content.

E-government can do more. In Europe it has long been accepted that what is necessary for success in business is not only a good idea and initial capital, but also availability of information on market rules. The EU-supported Egoprise project – promoting e-government as a tool to improve quality of services for medium and small business – helps create a system in which enterprises have access to all the necessary information in electronic format, and do not suff er from administrative barriers. This project is part of the European Territorial Cooperation, more exactly of the Baltic Sea Region Programme for transnational cooperation. It involves 22 partners from Germany, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Finland and Estonia, and its overall budget is 2.5 million EUR. In 2010 Belarus also joined in.

Text by Tatyana Korovenkova

Minsk – “The whole idea is about minimizing administrative procedures. As shown by international experience, business enterprises often fail because it is very diffi cult to fi nd a way through too many and too diff erent State regulations. E-government is a tool to improve the quality of services provided by public authorities for small and medium-sized enterprises.” Michael Doroshevich is an expert from Belarus. For him, it is essential that the government understands the purpose of the initiative. And he goes even further: “It is vital that the government realizes how important it is to stay in contact with the people. It is not enough to provide enterprises with information, or an opportunity to pay taxes, via an electronic system. It is also necessary to be aware of their opinions, to understand what they need and want”. The overall aim of EGOPRISE – an initiative supported by the EU – is to turn public administrations in rural areas into more business oriented

www.enpi-info.eu

ENPI Info Centre – Feature no. 40This is a series of features on projects funded by the EU’s Regional Programme, prepared by journalists and photographers on the ground or the ENPI Info Centre. © 2011 ENPI Info Centre / EU

service suppliers. The idea is to relieve small and medium enterprises from adminis-trative burdens and to improve their access to information and qualified staff. In the end, the final consequence should be an increased attractiveness of rural areas as places in which to live, work and invest.

Remote regions made attractive for businessIn Belarus – as in many other countries – companies and their customers face a lot of problems when they try to start up and develop their own business. This is why the Strategy for Developing Information Society was adopted by the Belarusian govern-ment: for authorities, the establishment of an e-government is today a priority, and that is where the EGOPRISE project comes in as an important instrument to bring this concept into life. Igor Gancharyonok, Deputy Rector for Studies at the Academy of Public Administra-tion – the EGOPRISE local partner – says the aims of the project are best expressed by the famous Belarusian motto ‘The State is there for the people’. “We addressed the development of small and medium business in the region – he says – and in this sector, the emphasis was put on rural districts. It is international cooperation in this field that enables us to optimize procedures, to attract labour and to make remote regions attractive for business,” Ganchryonok notes. The idea of an e-government was suggested as early as the mid-nineties. It was at that time that experts started discussing means to provide electronic information and public services for individuals and legal entities, using information technolo-gies. However, even now many experts think that only Singapore and Estonia have an e-government that is up to the mark.“Even today, we think of an e-government as a way of managing public administra-tion as a whole in an information-oriented society,” says Gancharyonock. “But the e-government concept is about changing the principles of public administration: it is an opportunity to transform it.”

An opportunity to transform public administrationImplementing EGOPRISE requires quite a lot of effort. In an initial phase, the idea is to identify the weak points in the flow of public information. Then procedures will be suggested to improve these information flows through technical instruments. Besides, a multi-language Internet resource is going to be developed for business registration, to enable businessmen to start new businesses in partner countries without leaving their own offices. The project will help create computer interfaces to enable users to obtain informa-tion relevant to their interests. For instance, each Executive committee in Belarus has its own website. Information from these sites should be more readily available to end users. How? For example, an advertisement is put up about a new service provided by the regional executive committee, offering a new benefit or new jobs.

This information should not only “hang” on the site, but it should be loaded into the electronic system that is available to all en-trepreneurs. Only in this case will it appear on every user’s screen.

Attracting employers and employees from other countriesNot only does EGOPRISE improve work-flows and develop interoperable e-govern-ment solutions; it also aims at simplifying

ENPI Info Centre – Feature no. 40p. 2

“E-government is a tool to improve the quality of services provided by public authorities for small and medium-sized enterprises”

The World Wide Web at the service of small business

“It is not enough to provide enterprises with information, or an opportunity to pay taxes, via an electronic system. It is also necessary to be aware of their opinions, to understand what they need and want”

N Michael Doroshevich

N Igor Gancharyonok

N The idea of an e-government was suggested as early as the mid-nineties. E-governements enable to optimize procedures and to make remote regions more attractive for business.

the employment process of (foreign) labour for small and medium sized enterprises. In fact, the international nature of the project makes it possible to attract potential employers and employees from other countries. “So far the idea of a labour force operating across the borders has not been very popular in Belarus – continues Gancharyonok -but this is a common practice in Europe. And we will have to attract human resources to regions where there is a shortage of workers.” “We study the European experience and try to get it across to our state offi cials,” continues Gancharyonok, adding that the EGOPRISE project off ers a unique chance for both Academy teaching staff and students, among whom are state offi cials and

entrepreneurs from diff erent Belarusian regions. “Our task is to train competent and highly quali-fi ed administrators,” concludes Gancharyonok. Michael Doroshevich shares his view. “The more Belarus takes part in such projects, the more it will benefi t,” he says.

ENPI Info Centre – Feature no. 40 p. 3

www.enpi-info.euwww.enpi-info.euwww.enpi-info.euENPIENPIENPI info centreinfo centreinfo centreinfo centreinfo centre

The ENPI Info Centre is an EU-funded Regional Information and Communication project highlighting the partnership between the EU and Neighbouring countries. The project is managed by Action Global Communications.

“Our task is to train competent and highly qualifi ed administrators. The more Belarus takes part in such projects, the more it will benefi t”

The World Wide Web at the service of small business

N The e-government concept is about changing the principles of public administration.

Participating countriesLatvia, Estonia, Lituania, Belarus, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark.

Timeframe2009-2013

Budget€ 2,546,000

ObjectiveEgoprise improves workfl ows & develops interoperable e-gov. solutions in order to: make public administrations more service oriented for enterprises; to simplify the employment process of (foreign) labour for small and medium enterprises; to provide easier entrance into public & business networks for such enterprises. Find out moreProject information http://eu.baltic.net/Project_Database.5308.html?&&contentid=29&contentaction=singleBaltic Sea Region Programme http://eu.baltic.net

The overall aim of Egoprise is to turn public administrations in rural Baltic Sea Region areas to more business oriented service suppliers, to relieve small & medium enterprises from administrative burdens, to improve their access to information & qualifi ed staff and as a consequence to increase attractiveness of rural areas as places to live, work & invest in.

Egoprise

www.egoprise.eu