On April 17, 2009 the Moscow office of the World Bank hosted a local session of an international videoseminar "Open Standards for Government Transformation: Enabling Transparency, Security and Interoperability" organized by IIS together with the E-Development Thematic Group of the World Bank.

The goal of the seminar was to exchange experience between specialists of the World Bank, representatives of public authorities, private sector, non-governmental organizations on the use of open standards in the course of reformation and intensification of the public sector. Besides, issues devoted to budget management, e-procurement, cloud computing, e-identification, security and interoperability frameworks were discussed.

Videoseminar "Open Standards for Government Transformation: Enabling Transparency, Security and Interoperability" was comprised of two parts: russian (14:00-16:00) and international (16:00-23:30).

The following questions were discussed among others:

• What is the progress and key challenges for implementing open standards in government in your country?
• What should be the institutional structures for ensuring compliance to open standards and interoperability across government?
• What mechanisms should be put in place to ensure that interoperability standards/frameworks are kept current in the context of rapid changes in technology?
• What arrangements should be put in place for connecting developing and transition countries with international standards bodies and leading public administrations in an era of cross-border interoperability?

The event was broadcasted via Internet at the World Bank’s website, see www.worldbank.org/edevelopment/live.

All additional materials of the seminar are published at  http://go.worldbank.org/ZCBGZ1FTK0.