Ο βουλευτής Αρκαδίας, κ. Κώστας Βλάσης συμμετείχε στις εργασίες της 58ης Ολομέλειας της Κοινοβουλευτικής Συνέλευσης της Οικονομικής Συνεργασίας Ευξείνου Πόντου, που διεξήχθησαν διαδικτυακά. Στο πλαίσιο της Γενικής Συνέλευσης, ο κ. Βλάσης συμμετείχε επίσης στη Μόνιμη Επιτροπή που προηγήθηκε των εργασιών της Ολομέλειας.
Ο επικεφαλής της ελληνικής κοινοβουλευτικής αντιπροσωπείας και μέλος της Επιτροπής Νομικών και Πολιτικών Υποθέσεων, κ. Βλάσης τοποθετήθηκε επί της Έκθεσης της Επιτροπής, επισημαίνοντας μεταξύ άλλων την εξέλιξη στην ψηφιοποίηση των εργασιών του ελληνικού κοινοβουλίου, ενώ αναφέρθηκε με ιδιαίτερη έμφαση στην εξέλιξη της διαδικασίας ψηφιοποίησης των υπηρεσιών του Υπουργείου Εξωτερικών επί της θητείας του ως Υφυπουργού Εξωτερικών Υποθέσεων αρμοδίου για τους Έλληνες της Διασποράς.
Αναλυτικά η ομιλία του βουλευτή Αρκαδίας:
Ladies and gentlemen
Dear friends
I am very pleased and honoured to participate in the 58th General Assembly of the PABSEC as the Head of the Greek delegation for the first time since my recent appointment. Unfortunately, the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic do not allow us to meet in person, but still I am convinced that our meeting will foster a fruitful discussion leading to important conclusions and initiatives.
If there is one thing that the pandemic has taught us, that is the great value of cooperation. By working together as a unit we can achieve great things and overcome harsh challenges. Covid-19 may have restricted many of our activities, but on the other hand, it has pushed us to move forward and explore new possibilities, mainly through use of modern technology.
In this context we have discussed the process of fostering digitalization and innovation in order to improve the legislative process and transparency of the parliamentary activity in the latest meeting of the Legal and Political Affairs Committee and we have reached some important conclusions which, I believe, will be extremely useful for all member states.
At this point, allow me to say that I am extremely proud of what the Greek government has achieved in terms of digitalization over the past two years. The government portal GOV.GR has been enriched by hosting numerous new procedures and services and it is now available on mobile app as well. In regards of the Hellenic Parliament we have introduced the Cisco WebEx video conferencing software, through which we have supported the meetings of all Committees and we have intensified our effort to keep an open channel with the greek society through our social media as well as our comprehensive and extremely user-friendly website and the webpage of the parliament’s library. These are just a few examples of how the greek state is in an ongoing digital transformation progress. I myself – from the position of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Diaspora Greeks – have contributed to this process by implementing the digitalization of many of our consular services through the MyConsulLive application and the virtual assistant chatbot.
Dear friends,
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has changed our lives in many ways. Social distancing and the lack of personal contact may have been the most obvious and significant aspects. However, it is in our hands to minimize these effects in terms of participation and involvement in our parliamentary procedures and the democratic processes in general. By sharing our experience and knowledge we can all benefit and excel in many areas.
Thank you for your time. I hope that, by the time our next meeting takes place, the circumstances will allow us to meet in person and that we will have left the pandemic behind us.