On 12th May an Information Day was organised by the Department of State Information Systems at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications in Tallin, Estonia. The event brought together key representatives from ministries and child welfare, police and telecommunication services, all concerned by internet safety in Estonia.

In a half-day session, Yolanda Arevalo-Torres outlined the European Commission’s Safer Internet Programme and responded to questions from the Estonian delegation on how to submit a proposal to the Commission and just what it entails to set up a hotline and an awareness node. Janice Richardson, manager of the Insafe network of national awareness nodes, gave a short presentation and answered practical questions about the role and responsibilities of Insafe network members. Agnieszka Wresien, who runs the Polish node and is closely involved in the work of its hotlines, gave extensive information on the activities she is conducting and responded to questions about the day-to-day running of nodes and hotlines.

Estonia is not a complete newcomer to the Safer Internet programme. Its participation in Insafe’s worldwide blogathon on Safer Internet Day 2006 raised broad interest from media, at the same time placing internet safety high on the national agenda.

The Information Day held in Bucharest, Romania, on 16th May was organised by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and took place in its own headquarters. The Minister of Communication and Information Technology Zsolt Nagy opened the meeting. A number of national authorities were represented, including the Ministry for Education and Research, the Ministry for Health and the Communications Regulation Authority. In all, over twenty participants attended. The private sector was well represented with delegates from the national ISPA, the Chamber of Commerce and a national investment company as well as NGOs.

Once again Ms Arevalo-Torres led the two-hour session with an introduction to the Safer Internet programme and a detailed description of how to submit a proposal. This raised questions from a number of private-sector participants, giving an indication of their high level of enthusiasm to set up a hotline and awareness node in the short term. Ms Richardson was joined by Ms Suvi Kuikka, who runs a node and a hotline in Finland, to share practical experience about the work of nodes and hotlines.