Brussels, 20/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - High-ranking civil servants from the administrations of 28 European States agreed on a group of "recommendations" in favour of the development of e-government, during a conference organised in conjunction by the Commission and the Swedish Presidency on 13 and 14 June in Stockholm (Sweden). This is the first time that representatives from the States of the European Union, the candidate countries and the European Economic Area gather to examine one of the key themes of the eEUROPE 2002 action plan. Among the recommendations are: 1) the need to develop a common view on the services provided by the e-government; 2) initiatives to ensure the confidence of citizens and companies in the security and reliability of electronic services; 3) greater involvement of citizens and the private sector in the regulation process; 4) an approach by several media channel (PC, digital televisions, GSM, SMS, WAP).
The conference was organised in the framework of the IDA programme 1999-2004 (Interchange of Data between Administrations), which aims to encourage an internal market for electronic services and through which the Member States and the Commission are seeking to promote the convergence between European countries to develop cross-border services.