The civil service excellence trends from the Astana Civil Service Regional Hub participating countries were discussed by the special panel under the 25^th NISCPAcee Annual Conference Innovation Governance in the Public Sector.

The international conference has taken place in Kazan Federal University with the participation of more 150 participants from Central and Eastern Europe, USA, France and SAR, including delegates of UN, International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA), Centre national de la fonction publique territoriale (CNFPT), American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), rectors of a dozen universities of Central and Eastern Europe.

The Panel Partnership for Civil Service Excellence Trends from the Astana Civil Service Hub Participating Countries was chaired by Alikhan Baimenov, Chairman of the ACSRH Steering Committee, and co-chaired by Juraj Nemec, NISPAsee President and Michale Brintnall, member of the ASPA National Council.

In his presentation, Alikhan Baimenov marked that globalization and IT are becoming a new challenge for the civil service excellence. Citizens get more informed and have an opportunity to compare and assess the solutions, which other countries apply. It is important to have a common platform through which the practitioners and researchers can join their efforts to share experience for efficient public administration. NISPAcee and Astana Regional Hub with its 36 participating countries from US, EU, CIS, Caucasus and ASEAN among others are the models of such international platforms, - Baimenov stressed.

Juraj Nemec underlined that the civil service excellence issues are very topical today not only for the countries of Central Asia, but also for Central and Eastern Europe, particularly Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, where they experience the regress in this area. The speaker noted the importance of collaboration and hoped for expansion of cooperation with the Astana Hub.

Main civil service excellence trends of Hub participating countries, namely Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Azerbaijan were presented by representatives of their authorized bodies and research institutions in the area of public administration. Experts of Russia and Tajikistan, representatives of international organizations like UN, CIS Interparliamentary Assembly took part in discussions on actual issues of civil servants’ training and retraining, scientific and analytical work.

At an exhibition organized under the auspices of the Conference, the participants were interested in the Hub’s research publications such as Review of Global and Regional Trends in Public Administration Excellence, which help governments compare reforms in countries of Europe, Northern America, South-East Asia, Caucasus and CIS. They also learned cases on civil service, corruption control, motivation of civil servants and country profiles of civil services of Hub participating countries, new editions of International Civil Service Reform and Practices Magazine.

The Hub delegates attended the Practitioners Forum, where researchers and practitioners exchanged their visions on innovation and communication techniques in public administration.

During the Conference, Alikhan Baimenov has met Igor Privalov, Director, High School of Public Administration, Kazan Federal University, and Juraj Nemec, President, NISPAcee, to discuss further trends of cooperation and implementation of joint initiatives.

NISPAcee is a network of institutes and schools of public administration in Central and Eastern Europe. It unites 150 organizations and acts the regional center of the United Nations Public Administration Network. Its main mission is to promote efficient public administration through experience exchange and educational programs in public and municipal administration.