The ambitious goal of Ukraine is to introduce a comprehensive state service in smartphones for citizens, whereas the goal of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine is to make Ukraine the most convenient and transparent country in the citizen-state and business-state interactions. Therefore, the Ministry actively works on creation of favourable conditions for doing business in Ukraine for both citizens of Ukraine and foreign partners by developing a number of key areas.

In February 2020, the mobile application Diia, citizens’ access to digital documents and priority services, was launched. The following documents are currently available in the Diia mobile application:

digital passport of a citizen of Ukraine in the form of an ID-card, and a digital passport of a citizen of Ukraine for travel abroad;

digital driver’s license;

digital vehicle registration certificate and compulsory car insurance policy;

digital student ticket;

digital tax number;

digital certificate of registration of an internally displaced person;

digital birth certificate;

display of the actual registration of the place of residence as an integral part of the e-passport of a citizen of Ukraine in the form of an ID-card and the e-passport of a citizen of Ukraine for travel abroad;

digital vehicle registration certificate for the proper user.

The following functionality is available in the Diia mobile application:

ability to receive notifications;

review and payment of fines for traffic violations (photo and video capture);

review and payment of debts in enforcement proceedings;

checking by other persons or information systems the compliance of digital documents;

transfer of a copy of digital documents with the person’s consent to other information systems;

the ability to verify and identify your person to carry out cash transactions in the bank;

the ability for entrepreneurs to receive state assistance in the amount of 8,000 UAH. Financial assistance will be provided once to individual entrepreneurs and employees who have suspended their work during the quarantine period. In order to receive assistance, one needs to apply on the Diia state web portal or in Diia mobile application, which will take only 5 minutes.

One of the main goals of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine by 2024 is to digitise 100 % of services provided by the state; if the public service is not provided online, it should not exist offline. For this purpose, the single state web portal of electronic services Diia (https://diia.gov.ua/) was created, where services are provided on the principle of division into categories and life events. On the portal, one can get 38 public online services: to become an entrepreneur; to change the type of activity or terminate it; to receive a comprehensive eBaby service (receiving up to 10 services just in 1 application); to start construction and put the facility into operation; to register LLC on the model charter; to issue a certificate of no criminal record; to issue assistance at the birth of a child or a monthly reimbursement of the cost of child care services for children under 3 years old; to get services related to driver’s documents; to get extracts from registers.

The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine launched the National Project for Entrepreneurship Development Diia.Business, which has 2 components, online and offline:

1. The Diia.Business web portal https://business.diia.gov.ua/ — a place where one can find all the necessary information on establishing and developing own business (“one-stop-shop” for entrepreneur), namely:

• national online school for entrepreneurs;
• free online consultations;
• map of business support infrastructure;
• directory for entrepreneur;
• proposals of partners;
• 100+ ideas to start your own business;
• business support centres in the regions.

Recently, the Diia.Business web portal has become available in English. This opens access to foreign partners, investors, entrepreneurs and start-ups to relevant information on doing business in Ukraine, allows to carry out the international B2B networking and to establish convenient formats of the international cooperation.

2. The network of business support centres with consulting zones. Two such centres have already been opened in Kharkiv and Mykolayiv. The Ministry works under further opening of such centres in all regions and cities of Ukraine.

The government approved a resolution “On Conducting an Experiment on the Introduction and Implementation of e-Residency in Ukraine”. It supports the e-Residence project, which aims to make Ukraine more attractive to international business, especially IT professionals. These are online services for foreigners that allow them to obtain remote access to public services and do business in Ukraine while staying abroad. E-residency will allow to receive online:

Ukrainian qualified electronic signature;

registration number of the taxpayer’s account card;

ability to open an online account in a Ukrainian bank;

simplified access to administrative services in Ukraine.

The next step of the Ministry is to develop relevant regulation that will adopt the processes of providing services for e-residents. Also, technical documentation for the operation of e-residency tools has been prepared, and a relevant web portal is being developed.

The Ministry works on a virtual economic zone Diia City, which will simplify the conditions for doing business in Ukraine and attract foreign investments. The Diia City will become a digital business country where there are no limits to investing, creating jobs or developing the latest technologies. Ukrainians and entrepreneurs from all over the world will have the opportunity to quickly implement their most ambitious innovative and business ideas without government intervention. The key principles of the project:

building a digital society (all G2R and G2B services online, АРІ-government, digital identification of entities and relationships, only non-cash payments);

transparency (public online access to all processes, except those that do not violate privacy, online monitoring for fiscal and control bodies, public and other institutions);

self-government (creating an environment for decision-making instead of rules, responsibility and direct participation of residents in the organisation of the project);

innovation (focus on innovative sectors of the economy of the future world).

The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine works on increasing the digital literacy among Ukrainians by developing project Diia.Digital Education. The goal is to raise the digital literacy of 6 million Ukrainians in 3 years. This project has an online component, a web-platform https://osvita.diia.gov.ua/ with free digital literacy courses (new courses are added on a regular basis), and an offline component, a network of digital education partner hubs across the country where one can access the Internet and digital gadgets.

To make digital solutions and services accessible to everyone, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine accelerates Ukraine’s connection to high-speed 4G Internet and implements one of the Ministry’s goals — the introduction of a new, promising 5G technology. According to the Ministry’s estimates, the 88 % of the population will have access to 4G in early 2021, and 95 % in July 2022. Also, in November 2020, the 5G Development Plan was approved and work on its implementation began — the Frequency Release Plan for 5G Distribution was approved. The Ministry expects the start of deployment of 5G networks in Ukraine in 2022.

The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine works on achieving the goals aimed at implementing a comprehensive public service in the smartphone for citizens and on the creation of favourable conditions for doing business for both citizens of Ukraine and foreign partners. In this regard, the Ministry is open to fruitful cooperation and dialogue. We are convinced that joint efforts towards digitalisation will be a solid foundation for future digital achievements.

Contact details: Fedorko Oleksandra Mykhailivna, State Expert of the Directorate of Strategic Planning and Monitoring of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine (e-mail: [email protected]).