Bilateral Cooperation with the Republic of Austria The bilateral cooperation of the Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia with the Republic of Austria is extremely important since Austria is one of the leading European countries in the field of e-Government development, and numerous examples such as: e‑Card, HELP.gv.at portal, ELAK – system for electronic document management and various others testify of the successful application of the information technology to the operations of the Austrian public administration.
- Delegation of the Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia, led by the state secretary Igor Lučić, made an official visit to the Republic of Austria from 15th to 16th July 2008. The purpose of the visit was the exchange of experiences the two countries have in the development of the electronic public administration. During the two-day visit, a number of meetings were held with the leading officials of the Austrian government in charge of the development of the Austrian electronic public administration system, and the visit ended with the meeting with the Austrian federal minister for women, media and regional policy, Heiderun Silhavy, one of the people most responsible for the Austrian success in this area.
- From 4 to 5 September 2008, a team of experts for the electronic administration of the Republic of Austria visited the Republic of Croatia. The purpose of the meeting was to introduce the Croatian party to PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement On-Line) project, as well as to discuss the possible new areas of cooperation between the Croatian and Austrian parties in the field of the electronic administration.
Upon the invitation of the Austrian minister for women, media and regional policy, Heiderun Silhavy, the Republic of Croatia, as the only country e-member of the European Union, participated at the Ministerial e-Inclusion Conference held from 30 November to 2 December 2008 in Vienna and organised by the European Commission and the Government of the Republic of Austria. During the conference, with more than 1200 participants, an exhibition was held wherein the e-inclusion activities were presented by exhibitors from eight countries. The Republic of Croatia was, on this occasion, represented by the Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia.
To date, the Ministerial e-Inclusion Conference is the biggest European gathering dealing with this issue and its objective was to represent the manners in which technology may improve the quality of life of all citizens, especially people with disabilities, elders, people with low income and all those to whom the access to technology was hard.
Bilateral Cooperation with the Republic of Hungary The bilateral cooperation of the Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia with the Republic of Hungary has been taking place within the joint sessions of the Croatian and Hungarian governments. In May 2007, it was agreed that the cooperation between the two countries should be expanded to the field of information and communication technologies and electronic business operations. As a result, the Republic of Hungary suggested the execution of the Memorandum of Understanding for the Cooperation in the Field of Electronic Administration defining the further cooperation.
The Memorandum text has been agreed upon and its execution shall take place at the subsequent joint session of the Croatian and Hungarian governments.
Bilateral Cooperation with the Republic of Macedonia
The state secretary of the Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia, Igor Lučić, met with the Minister of the Information Technology of the Republic of Macedonia Ivo Ivanovski, MSc on 24 April 2009. During the meeting, both parties expressed their satisfaction with the achieved progress in the development of the information society as well as with their cooperation within the international initiatives – e-South East Europe Initiative (eSEE) and Broadband South East Europe Initiative (bSEE), but they also expressed a wish to enhance the cooperation, especially in the exchange of experiences on the building of the electronic administration.
On that occasion, the Macedonian minister of the information technology highlighted the important role the Republic of Croatia has in motivating and encouraging other countries of the South East Europe to further develop the information society.
Bilateral Cooperation with the Republic of Kosovo
The state secretary of the Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia, Igor Lučić, met with the minister of public services PhD. Arsim Bajrami on 18 June 2009 within the official visit of the delegation of the Republic of Kosovo to the Republic of Croatia.
During the meeting, experiences in building the electronic administration were exchanged. On that occasion, the Kosovo party was especially interested in the beginnings of this process in the Republic of Croatia. Namely, Kosovo as a young country is only just beginning to build its electronic administration and is very interested in models implemented in the neighbouring countries. As a first step on that road, the Government of the Republic of Kosovo adopted the Strategy for the Electronic Administration Development for the period from 2009 to 2015, and initiated the central state portal for the facilitated communication of the citizens and entrepreneurs with the government.
Although the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Kosovo, and concerning the development of the information society, cooperate within the international initiatives - e-South East Europe Initiative (eSEE) and Broadband South East Europe Initiative (bSEE), both parties have emphasised their satisfaction with the start of the bilateral cooperation of the two countries. Also, the exchange of examples of good practice and the knowledge Croatian experts have of the building of the electronic administration been recognised as the field for cooperation.