Information Society in Central and Eastern European Countries - role of RTD
The Central and Eastern European Countries-European Union (CEECEU) panel on cooperation in RTD and experimentation met in Bled, Slovenia, on 7-8 March 1996. Ten Central and Eastern European Countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia) participated in the panel meeting. This was one of four panels established to follow up the results of the CEECEU Forum on the Information Society, held in Brussels in June 1995. The panel was created to discuss RTD plans at national and European level, in order to create the necessary conditions for the faster integration of the CEEC into the European Union's efforts to implement the Information Society. In its resolution, the panel concluded that since the EU has declared preparation for the Information Society a political priority, it must also be an indispensable part of the pre-adhesion strategy for the applicant countries. The panel therefore concluded that it is vitally important for the Information Society to be considered in activities based on the Europe agreements (the cooperation agreements signed between the EU and the CEEC, which will lead to the CEECs eventual membership of the EU). The panel called on the CEEC governments to make the development and implementation of the Information Society a top political priority, and called on the EU to involve the CEEC as much as possible in developments towards the Information Society, including through its various funding programmes. The panel urged the two sides to continue working together on developing RTD and the Information Society, both through existing mechanisms, and through further inter-institutional contacts. The second CEECEU Forum on the Information Society will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, on 12-13 September 1996. There the work of all four panels will be considered as well as future developments in the Information Society, including its impact on education and training.
Countries
Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia