Skopje 28 June 2022 (MIA) – Digitization of public services is a prerequisite for the creation of transparent and responsible institutions. We have no alternative to the digital transformation of society, Deputy PM for good governance policies Slavica Grkovska told the “Dialogues for Digital Agenda: Digital Agenda for Citizens – Digitization and Digital Transformation for More Efficient Administration” online event on Tuesday. Her commitment, she said, is to significantly increase the range of electronic services which will increase the efficiency of the institutions. “Through With digitization, public institutions become better and faster, the time required for administrative procedures is significantly lowered, thus making public administration and institutions more efficient. It is a process, i.e., a huge database which needs to be digitized,” said Grkovska, adding it is important to overcome the issues encountered in the area. In that regard, she added, conditions in multiple sectors have been mapped n cooperation with USAID – judiciary, social protection, health - with the aim of easing the citizens’ administrative procedures so as not to be in a situation where they seek documents which should be secured by the institution itself. “We have concluded that institutions having certain documents and data very often demand that the citizens bring the same data themselves, such as birth certificate, marriage certificate, and end up being sent from one institution to another. There will always be omissions, but I call on all who face this issue to report it to my office,” said Grkovska, adding that the Office for Management of Registers has removed this issue and there is no need for such documents to be requested from the citizens. She underlined that this practice must be abandoned and emphasized that the institutions themselves have a duty to secure the documents if they already possess them, and if they do not, they are obliged to request them, as per their official duty. With that, she added, the citizens’ extra costs will decrease, but the time necessary for receiving the service will also be shortened. “A prerequisite for an efficient digital transformation of society is the possession and establishment of an electronic ID card, enabling electronic identification and signature. We need to introduce a system which will instill confidence in the citizens that the data they use and share through the digitized services is secure and that no one will misuse it,” said Grkovska. According to her, it is necessary for all institutions to be actively included and dedicated, as well as all administration employees. Prof. Dr. Boro Jakimovski, Dean at the Faculty of Computer Science & Engineering, also emphasized the need for an increased use of digital documents so that digital services become more accessible to the citizens. According to him, cooperation is important for the progress of digitization of the society, and said the faculty remained open for cooperation in order to produce as much staff as possible for the needs of the society. The event takes place as part of project “Increasing Civic Engagement in the Digital Agenda – ICEDA”, co-financed by the EU, implemented in six countries (North Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania and Estonia), and it is organized by the Metamorphosis Foundation.