Secretary General Mr Damir Davidović participated at the seminar of the European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD) devoted to “Modern Technologies for Support to the Parliamentary Activities – Tradition and Challenges”, which was organised with the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, on 19^th September 2013, in Saint Petersburg.

The topics covered in the seminar included: how the development of technologies influenced changes and promotion of parliamentary procedures and practices, implementation of new technologies and innovation in the rules and procedures during adoption of laws, as well as implementation of other parliamentary activities.

The participants of this event were presented with the solutions used in the parliaments regarding changes in the use of traditional procedures in the legislative process, such as switching from printed to digital work mode, as well as innovation in organising professional support and having debates with the representatives of civil society. During the seminar, special focus was placed on the aspects of new possibilities of information and communication technologies (the Internet, mobile phones, etc.) and the influence of social media (Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.) on performing tasks in order to provide support for various types of parliamentary activities.

The Secretary General presented the capacities of information and communication technologies in the Parliament of Montenegro and pointed out that preparation of the project task for projecting, development and implementation of the parliamentary information system was underway, with a view to develop legislative process information support system. Development and implementation of the information system, said Mr Davidović, would enable the information monitoring of the legislative process and the whole flow of documents with the end goal of enhancing effectiveness and transparency of work of the Parliament.

The seminar was attended by the prominent experts from the field of information and communication technologies, as well as the representatives of the parliamentary services of the ECPRD member states.

The European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation was founded in 1977, with a goal to act as the mechanism for inter-parliamentary cooperation and exchange of information. This event gathered representatives of 30 national parliaments, members of the ECPRD network.