Digital diplomats, PR representatives, digital media editors and other digital devotees gathered in Bled, Slovenia this week for the training course “Enhancing Digital Diplomacy in the Western Balkans and Eastern European Countries”. The training took place between 28 and 30 November and attracted over 70 participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Ukraine and Slovenia. Through a training, covering a range of topics from theory of public relations and public diplomacy to specific use of digital tools and practical examples of digital campaigning, high-ranking officials from nine participating countries boosted their communication skills and established a network of digital diplomacy professionals.
The morning of the first day was devoted to introductions by the representatives of the organizers, Gautam Rana, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Slovenia, Sabina R. Stadler, Director-General of the Directorate For Multilateral Affairs, Development Cooperation and International Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, and Peter Grk, Secretary General of the Bled Strategic Forum and Member of Executive Board of the Centre for European Perspective.
Afterwards, the participants were absorbed in the nature of the digital future, discussing why is it important to be present online, what is the state of the digital media in Europe and who are the audiences that the institutions would target. Story-telling, misinformation and digital ecosystem building were also addressed by a number of excellent practitioners, among them Shawn Powers, Lee Nilsson and Matt Jacobs of the U.S. Department of State, Mathias Lüfkens, Burson-Marsteller, Marko Zoric, BBC YouTube Editor, and Nataša Briški and Aljaž Pengov Bitenc from Metina lista.
The second day of the training brought a close-up view on the digital campaigning, starting with a session on the interconnections between digital campaigns and official development cooperation on the case of Slovenia, where dr. Melita Gabrič, Simona Vučak and Miriam Možgan of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia presented the activities in the framework of Slovenian diplomacy. In the afternoon, participants were given different scenarios through which they had to build a digital campaign, answering the most important questions that appear in the process of planning. Facebook keynote on the importance of digital communities was delivered by Sharon Yang from Facebook.
The last day focused on the visual and video content and YouTube as a channel of communication featuring workshops with Marko Zoric, BBC YouTube Editor and Oliver Mertz of U.S. Department of State. Aljaž Pengov Bitenc and Nataša Briški from Metina lista reflected on their path of establishment of an online media platform and Jeremy Caplan from Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism engaged participants in an interactive learning-by-doing presentation of online production tools.
The project is organised in cooperation with the U.S. Department of State and is also a part of the CEP program activities financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia in the scope of international development cooperation.
Take a look at the photo gallery from the training here:
And get an insight into the bootcamp in our sneak peek video:
Pomurska Chamber of Commerce hosted a workshop entitled »Preparing for the EU standard of eInvoice« today in the framework of the “Readiness Of Slovenian E-Invoicing” (ROSE) Action in order to discuss the requirements of the European Directive on eInvoicing for Public Procurement (2014/55/EU) with 26 discussants.
The Directive and the new European standard for eInvoices bring some changes to the operations of budget users and an entirely new obligation for public companies and private law entities operating on the basis of special or exclusive rights in infrastructure-related activities. Therefore, the representatives of management, heads of financial services and officials responsible for procurement processes, are among the most interested workshop participants.
The partners of the ROSE Action, Public Payments Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, ZZI d.o.o.,Mojdenar IT d.o.o. and Centre for European Perspective, which are working on the preparation of the project and technical solutions for Slovenia in order to prepare it for the upcoming changes in the field of eInvoicing, briefed the participants on the new directive, the process and goals of ROSE Action, new EU standard and eSlog 2.0. standard, technical solutions for eInvoices reception and the single eInvoices recipients register.
All interested parties and those who would like to participate in the future workshops, are kindly invited to sign up for a newsletter at [email protected].
“Readiness Of Slovenian E-Invoicing” (ROSE) Action enables Slovenia to progress toward the widespread exchange of eInvoices in the European standard, in European public procurement. Two major pillars have already been established in order to implement the European legislation, scheme of the eSlog 2.0 standard and exchange hub for eInvoices sent in the European standard.
Dušan Zupančič, representative of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, one of the stakeholders in the ROSE Action, explains: “The new step closer to the exchange of eInvoices that has been taken in the previous month represents setting up a scheme of the new eSlog 2.0 eInvoice, which is aligned with the European standard. eSLOG 2.0 manual will be prepared in Slovenian and English language for software solution and services providers to enable integration of the new eSLOG 2.0 standard into their solutions.”
The exchange hub was set up in order to support the contracting authorities and contracting entities who are not budget users and who up until now were not obliged to receive eInvoices when sent to them in European standard. The hub is an open system that will enable integration with various ERP systems, accounting software and other software solutions. Rok Bojanc of ZZI d.o.o. speaks about plans for development of the hub: “The exchange hub that was established today will be further upgraded with the support for the eSlog 2.0 standard and conversions of the two syntaxes, aligned with the European standard for eInvoices EN 16931 (UBL 2.1 and UN/CEFACT CII). This will allow contracting authorities and contracting entities who are not budget users to conduct business using eInvoices in an easy and effective way already next year.”
The development of technical solutions consisted also of trials toward the practical implementation of software solutions for AS4 access point and test exchange of documents through the test access points AS2. ZZI d.o.o. and MojDenar IT d.o.o., stakeholders of the ROSE Action shared their findings and suggestions with the European developers of the software solutions Domibus and AS4.net. The experiences gained will contribute to the improvements of the existing European software solutions and increase the interoperability among different software solutions that underwent the compliance tests in the framework of the »Connecting Europe Facility«.
The developments were acknowledged at yesterday’s 6th Steering Board meeting of the ROSE Action, a Connecting European Facility Action, co-financed by the European Union and implemented by the Public Payments Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, ZZI d.o.o., Mojdenar IT d.o.o. and Centre for European Perspective.
We kindly invite you to the round table discussion »Light at the End of the Tunnel: Western Balkans & the European Union Part II«.
Round table will be held on Thursday, 7 December 2017, starting at 11 am, followed by a Pre-New Year’s Reception starting at 1 pm, at Jable Castle (Grajska cesta 1, 1234 Loka pri Mengšu, Slovenia).
The discussion will build upon the panel on the Western Balkans of Bled Strategic Forum 2017 that confirmed a clear message: the EU enlargement process carries a transformative power for the countries in the region (this message was supported by EU representatives, clearly stating that the future of the region lies within the EU). While the common values of the region and the EU are a strong driving force for both sides, some ministers still speak of alternatives, saying that a high level of support should not be taken for granted.
Welcome Address Dr Gorazd Justinek, Executive Director, Centre for European Perspective
Opening Remarks Mr Iztok Mirošič, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia
Panelists H. E. Dr Vujica Lazović, Ambassador of Montenegro (TBC) H. E. Mr Pëllumb Qazimi, Ambassador of the Republic of Albania H. E. Mr Nexhmi Rexhepi, Ambassador of Kosovo H. E. Mrs Zorana Vlatković, Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia.
Moderated by Mr Peter Grk, National Coordinator for Western Balkans, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia.
The discussion will be followed by a pre-New Year’s Reception, hosted by the Centre for European Perspective.
RSVP by 4 December: CEP-WesternBalkans
Event is organized by the Centre for European Perspective in cooperation with the Bled Strategic Forum international conference and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia.
In the framework the “Readiness Of Slovenian E-Invoicing” (ROSE) Action a workshop entitled »Preparing for the EU standard of eInvoice« took place today in Novo mesto in the premises of the Dolenjska and Bela krajina Chamber of Commerce. The workshop provided an introduction into the requirements of the European Directive on eInvoicing for Public Procurement (2014/55/EU), which obliges all budget users and contracting entities in public procurement to receive eInvoices transmitted in EU standard.
The partners of the ROSE Action, Public Payments Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, ZZI d.o.o.,Mojdenar IT d.o.o. and Centre for European Perspective, which are working on the preparation of the project and technical solutions for Slovenia in order to prepare it for the upcoming changes in the field of eInvoicing, briefed the participants on the new directive, the process and goals of ROSE Action, new EU standard and eSlog 2.0. standard, technical solutions for eInvoices reception and the single eInvoices recipients register.
The Directive 2014/55/EU and the new EU standard for eInvoices bring some changes to the operations of budget users and an entirely new obligation for public companies and private law entities operating on the basis of special or exclusive rights in infrastructure-related activities. Therefore, the workshop attracted the representatives of management, heads of financial services and officials responsible for procurement processes.
A series of workshops in the framework of ROSE Action will be organized across Slovenia, the next workshop is taking place on 29 November in the premises of the Pomurska Chamber of Commerce.
