Marián Jakubócy: Eastring Will Enhance Vertical Gas Corridor's Transit Role

Novinite has interviewed H.E. Marián Jakubócy, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Slovak Republic to the Republic of Bulgaria since 2013.

Our conversation with Mr Jakubócy comes just as Slovakia is ending is one-year rotational presidency of the Visegrad Four (Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic) on June 30.  

Mr Jakubócy has taken several offices at his country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2013. He has been 3rd Secretary at the Slovakian Embassy to Moscow (1998-2002) and Deputy Head of Mission in Berlin (2005-2009). He speaks English, German and Russian.

The Visegrad Group countries organized earlier this year a workshop on good practices in e-governance. What are the most important things Bulgaria could learn from the four states - and from Slovakia in particular?

I consider the workshop you mentioned to be successful. It consisted of two parts: one was dedicated to the exchange of experience on the state of e-government in the Visegrad Four [abbreviated V4 further in the text] and in Bulgaria. In the other one, the companies concerned put forward their products and applications which they could offer in Bulgaria. As regards Slovakia, we launched our e-services at the end of 2013. They are much related to the everyday life of citizens, for instance registration of permanent residence or its change, registration of vehicles, including change in ownership. You can receive an e-copy of the car's history and information about its vehicle inspections. Also in December 2013 we started issuing electronic identity documents, they are owned by some 800 000 citizens - about 20% of the population. Together with the electronic signature they allow citizens to...