On December 14, 2012 Moscow representative office of the World Bank hosted the seminar on “International experience of open government ecosystem formation and Russian regions: cooperation with the World Bank”. This event was held immediately after the international conference “Open Public Administration”, which took place on December 12-13 in Moscow and was organized by the Government of RF with support of the World Bank. IIS experts took part in preparation and conduction of the World Bank seminar.

The seminar was attended by the representatives of nine Russian regions – Moscow, Moscow region, Penza region, Perm region, Republic of Mordovia, Tula region, Ulyanovsk region, Khabarovsk region, Yaroslavl region and Taganrog city.

The seminar was opened by Chris Vein, Chief Innovation Officer on Global ICT Development, ICT Sector Unit, World Bank who previously occupied the position of Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer for Government Innovation in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The opening speech was delivered by Mihal Rutkowski, Director and Permanent Representative of the World Bank in the Russian Federation.  

In the course of the seminar the World Bank experts introduced to participants their wide international experience in forming open government ecosystem, which can be used in Russia at regional level. Representatives of Russian regions were shown efficient tools (methodological, organizational, financial), which are in possession of the World Bank for development and successful implementation of strategies, programs and projects of open government ecosystem formation.

Oleg Petrov, Program Coordinator, Knowledge and Learning, ICT Sector Unit, World Bank, and Mikhail Bunchuk, Program Officer, ICT Sector Unit, World Bank reported on open government ecosystem development at regional level. World Bank advisors Andrew Stott, Jeff Kaplan, Timothy Herzog and Yulia Bezgacheva reported on evaluation of regions’ readiness to open data use.

Mechanisms and platforms used for citizens’ engagement in public administration were presented to participants of the seminar by World Bank advisors Ekaterina Kanter and Jennifer Shakabatur. Yuri Hohlov, Chairman of IIS Board of Directors, also spoke at the section.  

The seminar concluded with discussion of regional initiatives aimed at open government system formation by the representatives of Russian regions.