The partner of the year 2023 is the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine
This year, the e-Governance Academy’s award “Partner of the Year 2023” was forwarded to the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine for the excellent collaboration in developing the Ukrainian digital signature recognized in EU, that paves the way for joining the EU Digital Single Market as the first non-EU country.
Hannes Astok, Executive Director of e-Governance Academy, handed the prize over to Yevhenii Gorbachov, Head of Diia Company at the e-Governance Conference networking event.
“Just at the beginning of the year, Ukraine became the first one to have its trust services, that is e-signatures and seals, fully meet EU standards and be recognized by the European Union,” said Hannes Astok. “This is a breakthrough that no country outside the EU has ever achieved before. Slava Ukraini!”
According to Hannes Astok, these results have been accomplished in close collaboration between the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the local State Enterprises, the European Commission and the e-Governance Academy’s experts from the EU4DigitalUA project team, and despite the challenges caused by the war.
The Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov: “Diia.Signature is one of the most revolutionary services we have created. It is a fundamental service for digital countries that allows to receive services online. Recently, Diia.Signature-EU has become compatible with the European Commission’s electronic signature platform, and Ukraine became the first non-EU country to be included in the European Union’s Trust List. This opens up new opportunities for every Ukrainian and for Ukraine as a whole. I am grateful for the recognition of Ukrainian digital signature and support of our European integration.”
The process started in 2017, and during the last three years, the e-Governance Academy has been involved in it. The collaboration included the harmonization of the legislation, negotiations with the European Commission and the implementation of technical interoperability solutions. All in all, 74 laws were adopted.
Photo by Marko Mumm
“I would like to highlight the people without whom this achievement would not be possible and thank them for their outstanding cooperation. From the Ministry of digital transformation – Yurii Kozlov, Iryna Shostak, Gulsana Mamedieva and Yevhen Horbachov. From the European Comission – Apostalas Apladas, Vicente Andreu-Navarro and Maya Madrid. Last but not least – eGA’s expert from Ukraine Oleksandr Kozlov and the EU4DigitalUA project team,” said Hannes Astok.
Since 2015, eGA has conferred this award to the most enthusiastic partners who develop digital governance that help to govern in a more efficient, transparent and sustainable way. Previous annual awards went to the Government of Benin (2022), the Electronic Interoperability Centre of Kyrgyzstan (2019), the State Agency for e-Governance of Ukraine (now the Ministry of Digital Transformation) (2018), the Government Office of the Republic of Namibia(2017), the Government of Faroe Islands and the City Council of Ivano-Frankiivsk (2016), the Moldovan e-Government Center, Effecta Solutions, the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovation under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, City of Tartu, and Estonian telecommunication company EMT (2015).