Current LatviaTHEME IN FOCUS: E-BUSINESS FORUM No. 18, 26 September 2001 E-BUSINESS FORUM
ACCENTS
General information on the Baltic Sea Region e-Business Forum in Riga From 26 to 28 September 2001 the Baltic Sea Region e-Business Forum will take place in Riga, Latvia. The main objective of the Forum is to share experience in facilitating the development of an information society and building a harmonized e-business environment in the region, thus creating the necessary preconditions for effective e-business, e-commerce, e-government and ICT development. The Forum also aims to provide an opportunity for local and international companies, and investors involved in e-business and e-commerce projects to exchange views on the current situation, possible future trends in e-business, e-commerce and discuss investment opportunities. The Forum's motto âÀ“ "Towards a Harmonised e-Business Environment in the Baltic Sea Region" âÀ“ demonstrates the commitment of the organisers to promote a coherent e-business environment in the Baltic Sea region, thus contributing to an effective implementation of the e-Europe Action Plan. The Forum is organised by the project management company "Birojs 2000" Ltd. in co-operation with the OECD as the international organisational partner of the Forum and First Tuesday as the host of the parallel session "11 e-Business and e-Government Case Presentations" of the Forum. The Forum will start on 26 September with the Executive Seminar "Impact of "e" on Business Processes and Industry Structures âÀ“ The New Challenge", sponsored and hosted by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. The Forum will offer plenary session round table discussions and parallel working sessions âÀ“ e-Financial Infrastructure and Services; Financing e-Business; e-Security; e-Marketing, Branding and Customer Relationship Management; Logistics of e-Business; 11 e-Business and e-Government Case Presentations. A ministerial meeting will take place on 28 September as an associated event of the Forum. About 400 participants from 23 countries will take part in the Forum, including ministers and senior level government officials, policy-makers from international organisations, and international and regional business leaders. Apart from Prime Minister of Latvia Mr Andris Berzins, Prime Minister of Estonia Mr Mart Laar, Prime Minister of Lithuania Mr Algirdas Brazauskas and ministers of the Baltic Sea region countries there will be such high-ranking participants as Mr Erkki Liikanen, Member of the European Commission responsible for Enterprise and Information Society and Mr Donald J. Johnston, Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Birojs 2000
Recent e-business developments in the on-line banking, brokerage, insurance and advertising to be discussed at the e-Business Forum The target audience of the Baltic Sea Region e-Business Forum comprises the Baltic Sea region companies, which are already applying or envisage applying e-business developments efficiently. Particular sessions are provided for the experts of banks, brokerage companies, insurance companies, marketing and advertising agencies. Whereas the Executive Seminar "Impact of "e" on Business Processes and Industry Structures âÀ“ The New Challenge", sponsored and hosted by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young âÀ“ one of the largest management, IT consulting and IT services firms in the world, will be held as an introductory event of the Forum. Both local and foreign entrepreneurs have acknowledged the Forum to be one of the major international e-business events of 2001 with respect to the speakers, as well as the contents. Similarly, the Government of Latvia in the person of Prime Minister considers this Forum to be a unique opportunity for Latvia to promote the impact of e-commerce on the development of the economy. The session "e-Financial Infrastructure and Services" will focus on the issues of transforming financial markets and the impact of e-finance on the dynamics of industry, as well as the e-financial infrastructure available in the region for supporting e-commerce and m-commerce transactions. The experts will also analyse latest e-banking strategies in the region, as well as discuss the role and prospects of e-insurance and e-brokerage in the new e-finance environment. The session "e-Marketing, Branding and Customer Relationship Management" will cover the following themes: the long-term outlook for the on-line advertising market, value of Internet advertising, online advertisement content and its regulation, the business of building successful e-brands and creating high-value B2C and B2B customer relationship management over the Internet. The session "Financing e-Business" will deal with private equity finance for e-business, key challenges for private equity provision, necessary conditions for enabling the development of private equity markets and public-private partnership in private equity provision. The session "Logistics of e-Business" will focus on key issues of e-business logistics including logistics of e-SCM (Supply Chain Management). Birojs 2000
What makes the Baltic Sea Region e-Business Forum different from other e-business events held in the region? Regional focus Instead of focusing on particular countries of the Baltic Sea region or a group of a few countries (the Baltic States, Nordic countries) the Forum targets all countries of the Baltic Sea region (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden). Ministerial meeting as an associated event of the Forum On 28 September a meeting of key ministers from the Baltic Sea region countries responsible for the information society development policy will take place in Riga as an associated event of the Forum.
Government support The organisation of the Forum is supported by the Government of the Republic of Latvia and such institutions as the Register of Enterprises of the Republic of Latvia, Latvian Development Agency and IT, Telecommunication and Electronic Alliance, which actively pursue the information society development in Latvia. Mr Andris Berzins, the Prime Minister of Latvia is the Honorary Chairman of the Forum.
Co-operation with OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is the international organisational partner of the Forum.
Top level Forum participants The Forum will be a meeting place for hundreds of senior level government officials from the countries of the Baltic Sea region, policy makers from important local and international organisations and business community. Among the top level speakers will be Prime Ministers and ministers of the Baltic Sea region, policy makers from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Commission, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), World Trade Organization (WTO), World Intellectual Property Organisation, global and regional business leaders from Alcatel, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Compaq, Deloitte & Touche, Ericsson, Europay International, First Tuesday, Hewlett-Packard Company, Hill & Knowlton, Intel, Microsoft, Nokia Corporation, Oracle, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Sampo, Siemens, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB), Sonera, Tele2, Telenor, Telia, TietoEnator, TNT Express, Visa International, several New Economy companies etc.
Comprehensive programme with a strategic approach Two and a half day intensive Forum programme will focus on three segments of the New Economy âÀ“ e-government, e-business and e-commerce. The Forum will offer plenary session round table discussions, working sessions âÀ“ e-Financial Infrastructure and Services; Financing e-Business; e-Security; e-Marketing, Branding and Customer Relationship Management; Logistics of e-Business; 11 e-Business and e-Government Case Presentations, as well as the Executive Seminar "Impact of "e" on Business Processes and Industry Structures âÀ“ The New Challenge" Birojs 2000
Intervention by Mr Indulis Berzins, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia during the 10th Ministerial Session of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, Hamburg, 7 June 2001 (extract) "At present the Baltic Sea region is among the front-runners in developing an information society. IT is one of Latvia's priorities in regional cooperation and we want to do more in this field. In September this year Latvia is going to organize a ministerial meeting and an e-Business Forum "Towards a Harmonised e-Business Environment in the Baltic Sea Region" that should turn the Northern e-Dimension into reality. This will be a good opportunity for government representatives and business communities from the CBSS region and the United States to meet each other and to develop further contacts between e-business and e-government." Full text of the intervention: http://www.am.gov.lv/en/?id=3611
Address by Dr Vaira Vike-Freiberga, President of the Republic of Latvia at the Dansk Industri conference, Copenhagen, 20 September 2001 (extract) "Information technology is one of the most promising fields of development in the Baltic Sea region, and Latvia aims to become one of the principal producers of components for the telecommunications and computer industries in Northern Europe. Latvia has already become a reliable and reputable exporting country of information products and software services, and is gradually increasing the proportion of value-added exports in relation to such raw materials as timber. Latvia offers a wide range of opportunities for the IT investor, particularly in software-development outsourcing, high-tech manufacturing and assembly, the hosting of e-commerce and Internet-based solutions, call centres and telemarketing. With the assistance of the EU's PHARE programme, Latvia hopes to establish an industrial cluster that will employ 5000 people and generate an annual export value exceeding 539 million EUR (500 million USD) by the year 2010. A number of hi-tech multinational companies have already been showing an active interest in Latvia's ICT potential. The Finnish telecommunications' company Sonera, for example, has invested over 323 million EUR (300 million USD) into the modernization of Latvia's telecommunications monopoly Lattelekom. Other well-known multinationals, such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Siemens Nixdorf, Unisys, and Nokia, have contracted out large software development assignments to several Latvian IT companies that have established a solid international reputation as reliable and stable partners. Seven Latvian software and hardware companies have obtained ISO quality certificates, and one of these, DATI, is now the largest software developer in Eastern Europe. The Latvian IT services sector has grown to include over 500 private companies during the past decade, mainly based in the capital, Riga. The top 20 companies employ over 3000 workers. The total investment in the Latvian telecommunications infrastructure and IT technologies during the last three years is estimated at 700 million EUR (650 million USD). Software design is the most significant segment of the IT sector in Latvia. Software maintenance, integration, consulting and training are other rapidly growing areas. Outsourcing has become a core competence of Latvian software-development companies, which have gained significant experience from large-scale software-development projects undertaken for major international companies. Latvia is now a net exporter of these services. The industry is undergoing restructuring in the wake of mergers and acquisitions and there is space for more investors. For example, in 1998, the Tieto Corporation of Finland announced the acquisition of the Latvian company Konts. In 1999, Tieto Konts merged with Enator AB of Sweden and the TietoEnator Corporation was born, becoming one of Europe's leading IT companies. Two Latvian companies, Fortech and VAR, have recently merged with the Estonian company Microlink, making it the largest IT holding in the Baltic region with annual sales of 70 million USD. Latvian universities and institutes are currently conducting research for such well-known corporate giants as Boeing, IBM, Siemens and Telecom Italia. These Latvian specialists are being joined by a steady stream of university-educated computer science graduates, thanks to the Latvian government's policy of promoting education in the IT field.
Ladies and gentlemen, Since IT specialists are in short supply the world over, the Latvian government has made a long-term commitment to substantially increase funding for IT education. Last year alone, the government increased state funding for IT education by 20%. As a result, the number of IT students is expected to increase by one third within a very short time. Latvia is also involved in a joint project with Denmark, which should see the formation of a Danish-Latvian IT college in Riga, Latvia's capital city. This college would serve to educate highly qualified IT specialists not only from Latvia, but also from the entire Baltic Sea region. The Latvian and Danish governments thus hope to promote the education of roughly 2000 highly skilled workers every year. This would indeed be a most welcome development for all of Europe, particularly when we consider that there are over 1.6 million vacancies in Europe's IT labour market, according to European Commission Chairman Romano Prodi. ICT will certainly not be the magic wand to solve all of our economic problems. But we do hope that it will be a useful and powerful tool to promote worldwide economic growth and sustainable development. I therefore hope that many of you are planning to participate in the Baltic Sea Region e-Business Forum in Riga at the end of this month, where the whole Baltic Sea region will be represented. The Prime Ministers and key ministers responsible for information society development from the Baltic Sea region countries will meet during this Forum, and are expected to adopt a statement supporting the Action Plan of the Nordic e-Dimension." Full text of the speech: http://www.am.gov.lv/en/?id=3463
FOR MORE INFORMATIONCONTACT INFORMATION
Project Management Company "Birojs 2000" Ltd. Address: K. Valdemara 5, Riga, LV 1010, Latvia
Ms Vija Kasakovska, "Birojs 2000" Project Manager, Public Relations Telephone: (+371) 704 36 19
USEFUL LINKS Press releases on the Baltic Sea Region e-Business Forum: http://www.birojs2000.lv/jauna/uk_efor_007.htm Forum programme: http://www.birojs2000.lv/jauna/uk_efor_009.htm |
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