On 14th May, 2012 at WSIS Forum in Geneva the Country Workshop of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Building of the Information Society and Development of E-Government in the Republic of Kazakhstan: Experience and Achievements" was held. The representatives of IIS attending the WSIS Forum 2012 took part in organization and holding this Workshop.

Yuri Hohlov, Chairman of IIS Board of Directors, acted as a participant of the interactive discussion taking place in the course of the Workshop.

The seminar was attended by about 70 representatives of government agencies, private sector and civil society organizations from different countries, including CIS countries such as Republic of Azerbaijan and Russian Federation, as well as representatives of international organizations. The seminar was also attended by high level officials - Hamadoun Toure, Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union, Vyatcheslav Cherkasov , Head of Direction "Public Administration" of the Division for Public Administration and Development Management, UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and Elmir Valizadeh, Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

In the course of presentation on "Kazakhstan: through the Development of IT to the Information Society" delivered by Bikesh Kurmangalieva, Vice-Chairman of Governing Board of the National ICT Holding "Zerde", the activities on implementation of state programs and projects aimed at building of the Information Society and formation of the e-Government in the Republic of Kazakhstan were highlighted. In particular, she informed participants of the Workshop on achievements and priority projects of the Republic of Kazakhstan on development of information and communication infrastructure, application of ICTs for the development of the economy and social sphere, including healthcare, education, science and culture.

Furthermore, Ruslan Ensebaev, Chairman of the Governing Board of National Information Technologies company, informed the participants on the experience of establishment of e-Government system in the Republic of Kazakhstan and delivered presentation on "E-Government Portal - Pushing Keyboard Buttons Rather Than State Bodies Doors". During the presentation he provided information on e-Government architecture development, effectiveness and usefulness of the portal operation as a key element of the e-Government platform in Kazakhstan, plans of the further portal development, including expansion and optimization of the range of the e-Government services provided, as well as on the initiating of the project on transfer of e-Government services to G-Cloud.

At the conclusion of the presentations the lively discussion took place.

The participants discussed the positive results and the effectiveness of the implementation of e-Government services in the Republic of Kazakhstan, and exchanged experience on overcoming challenges and obstacles encountered in the course of e-Government system establishment in their countries. Along with the formation of e-Government technology platform, the participants noted the necessity to address issues related to improving computer literacy and the promotion of the e-Government project among the population living in remote regions and rural areas.

In the end of the Workshop participants thanked organizers for the interesting presentations and noted the high level of the event organization.