Around 100 people from various countries of Europe and Asia, as well as international organizations, took part in the international online conference “Digital Innovation in Civil Service Management: Global Trends and Best Practices”.
This is the third annual online conference organized by the Astana Civil Service Hub jointly with the Ministry of Personnel Management of the Republic of Korea, the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Civil Service Affairs and the Association of HR Managers of Kazakhstan, where topical issues of the civil service are discussed.
“Worldwide, civil service management systems are employing modern technologies and new management approaches which facilitate the move towards more flexible, citizen-centric, and transparent governance.” said Alikhan Baimenov, Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Astana Civil Service Hub, in his welcoming speech. Highlighting the importance of sharing knowledge and experience between countries, Mr. Baimenov expressed gratitude to the Government of Korea, a world-renowned leader in the areas of digitalization and civil service management, for their constant willingness to share their experience.
In his welcoming speech, the Minister of Personnel Management of the Republic of Korea, Kim Seung Ho, emphasized the importance of digital innovation in the civil service. “Today, we stand before a great wave of digital transformation accelerated by the COVID 19 outbreak. Our ministry’s digital reforms, including the development of “e-Saram”, contribute to one of the Korean government’s key policy goals, which is ” to build the world’s best Digital Platform Government connecting all data,” he said. He also noted that The Ministry of Personnel Management will proactively take part in building an able and competent government, and share the lessons learned with the international community. In particular, the Ministry of Personnel Management will go along with the Astana Civil Service hub in its efforts to reinforce collaboration with countries in Central Asia.
Deputy Chairman of the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Civil Service Affairs Azamat Zholmanov shared the achievements of the domestic civil service in the field of digitalization, and also emphasized the importance of participating in such events for the exchange of experience.
During the conference, speakers from South Korea presented the “e-Saram” platform and shared a summary of the annual report of the Ministry of Personnel Management of the Republic of Korea.
Belgian best practices were introduced to the conference by a representative of the Digital Transformation Office of the Federal Public Service BOSA. Along with this, speakers from the Civil Service Bureau of Georgia, the Civil Service Agency of Kazakhstan and the Civil Service Development Agency of Uzbekistan spoke about the directions of digitalization of the civil service, current challenges and prospects. The speaker from the State Agency for Civil Service and Local Self-Government Affairs of Kyrgyzstan shared the experience of his country, talking about the “Sanarip Aimak” platform. One of the important ideas voiced at the seminar was that in the age of digitalization, special attention should first of all be paid to the interests of people.
The experience of these countries aroused great interest among the participants of the conference. This is largely due to the fact that during the pandemic, the importance of digital innovations for the efficiency of the public service has increased significantly around the world.
All speakers also highlighted the role of the Hub in promoting best practices, sharing experience and knowledge among participating countries, partners and the expert community. In turn, the Hub continues to work actively to support the efforts of the state bodies of the participating countries aimed at the innovative development of the civil service and the search for digital tools to improve the efficiency of human resource management in the current realities.
