Minister of Justice and Public Administration Ivan Malenica participated on 28 August in the ministerial meeting on “Digital Transformation in the Western Balkans Region” in the margins of the Bled Strategic Forum international conference “Solidarity for Global Security”.
Ministers responsible for digitalisation from Slovenia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia discussed the digital transformation of society and the importance of digitalising processes in public administration.
Slovenia and Croatia expressed their willingness to cooperate in the area of digitalisation and the EU accession process of the countries of the Western Balkans.
Minister Malenica pointed out that digital transformation was part of the key strategic documents of the Republic of Croatia – the National Development Strategy and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, as well as the Digital Croatia Strategy 2023.
He added that digitalisation was at the heart of national plans for the development of the judiciary and public administration.
“Our key development documents underline the importance of using digital technologies. Digital services are broadening or enhancing access to justice, improving the quality of public services and contributing to the protection of human rights”, said the Minister, stressing the importance of having a good legislative framework in the process of digitalising public services.
Speaking about the Digital by Default i.e. Digital First principle, the Minister pointed out that it improves public services, creates a more open and transparent society, and a more accessible system that can operate in different circumstances.
Minister Malenica also mentioned the new Document Management Decree in Croatia as an important step forward in strengthening the efficiency of public administration, since it establishes digital communication with citizens and businesses as the primary one, and provides for the interconnection of all information systems of the state administration with a view to optimising the processes.
“The number of electronic public services and users of the e-Citizens system has been steadily on the rise. Over 1,780,000 e-Citizens users have used the e-services 138 million times, which is the number of times they didn’t have to go to the counter. This is a significant advantage of digitalisation”, the Minister concluded.
Photo:
Ministry of Digital Transformation of Slovenia
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