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The President of the Republic’s Regional Development Roundtable discussed the role of local government in an information society

18.01.2007

The President of the Republic’s Local Government and Regional Development Roundtable that gathered today, unanimously supported the presentation of Auditor General Mihkel Oviir, who said that the problems of local government are also the state’s problems.

The Auditor General gave a presentation in the first part of the roundtable on the topic, “Support of the State for Local Governments in the Development of an Information Society”. He emphasized that although the number of computer users in Estonia corresponds to the European Union average, we should compare ourselves to the Nordic countries and these results are not as good. A total of 37% or about 370,000 people in Estonia do not know how to use computers. In addition to computer training, attention should also be paid to the creation of a uniform service space, in order to fulfill the provisions of the regulations related to public information, digital signatures, and local government.

In the second half of the roundtable, the leaders of local government associations enumerated possible topics for future discussions including regional and local administration, background research to support the development of local governments, the financing of local governments, the role of local governments as property owners, and topics related to the European Union.

The President of the Republic’s Local Government and Regional Development Roundtable is a working group formed by the Head of State, to which representatives of the county local government associations and their umbrella organizations belong. The function of the roundtable is to form recommendations for the President of the Republic in questions related to local government and regional development.

Public Relations Department of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, 18 January 2007