From 26-28 June 2024, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), in cooperation with the State Agency for Intellectual Property and Innovation under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzpatent) and the Ministry of Digital Development of the Kyrgyz Republic, are hosting the first subregional workshop on innovation and technology for sustainable development with a focus on digital public services for small and medium-sized enterprises in North and Central Asia.

Aleksey Borodin, Director General of the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications, took part in the opening of the event, addressing the participants of the meeting with welcoming remarks. Thus, it was noted that the RCC Members are implementing the guiding concepts of digital transformation, and, as far as the development of digital public services is concerned, in a number of countries of the region in the mode of a single online window it is already possible to find out about the measures of state support, undergo business diagnostics, in particular, clarifying their stop factors and their own skills, fill in documents, receive services and apply for a loan, and much more - these efforts are aimed at saving time and resources of entrepreneurs and the self-employed, facilitating the processes of their communication with the state.

"I am sure that in this context, the stated objectives of the workshop and its focussed subject matter are an important element of the overall discussion on strengthening existing policy and regulatory frameworks for digital public services and platforms in the countries of North and Central Asia, and the results of the event will be an important contribution to the development of relevant approaches in our countries," said Mr. Borodin.

The workshop is being held within the framework of the project "Strengthening Policy and Regulatory Frameworks for Digital Government Services for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in North and Central Asia (NCA) in Support of the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway (APIS) Action Plan 2022-2026" - The ESCAP secretariat, with the support of the Russian Federation, launched a two-year project in 2024 to strengthen existing policies and regulatory frameworks for digital public services and platforms for SMEs in ECA countries, taking into account the needs of women entrepreneurs and businesses to digitise their business models and processes, and to establish new digital platforms.

Workshop objectives:

1. Assess digital public services and digital platforms for SMEs in the CA region and beyond;

2. Identify individual prioritised needs of the region, as well as;

3. Outline common outcomes for the provision of digital public services and digital platforms for the digitalisation of SME business models and processes.