All public administration counters should fit onto a mobile phone

Strengthening information security and data protection of citizens, development of digital infrastructure that will support the expansion of electronic administration in Serbia, as well as the popularization and greater use of electronic services, will be the priorities of the eGovernment Alliance in the next two years, it was announced at today's constitutive session of the new convocation of this working body of NALED.

The development of these areas is a key prerequisite in order to make it practical and interesting for citizens and businesses to use eServices. This would mean, among other things, that all public administration "counters" would be available on one eGovernment application on mobile phones and that it would be enough to log in once to access each of them. Also, high-quality eGovernment would imply two-way communication between the state and citizens, that is, that they receive the requested documents through eDelivery, but that they can send digital documents to state and local authorities in the same way.

- When it comes to information security, it is necessary to improve the legal framework in this area, strengthen the capacities of state and local authorities, as well as businesses that manage information systems, and connect them so that we have one team ready to defend against cyber attacks. Also, we need to develop an ultra-fast communication network, cloud, AI and IoT infrastructure that will provide the data necessary for the creation of new economic value, but also enable that the existing infrastructure, especially in public ownership, such as that of the MUP, EPS or the Railway, is adequately used and available to all operators under the same conditions – said Dragana Ilić, the new president of the Alliance and Corporate Affairs Director in CETIN.

The special guest at the session was the new Acting Director of the Office for IT and eGovernment, Milan Latinović, who pointed out that citizens understand how much eGovernment can make their lives easier and that they accept electronic services well.

- We plan to create new services and improve the existing ones. We plan to improve the service generator on our portal and to create a system where, primarily, state authorities will be able to digitize their procedures, currently being performed in paper, so that the Office is no longer the only one to deal with this topic. This will enable that new services are developed in less time and established in line with the planned deadlines - said Latinović.

One of the Alliance’s first activities will be the completion and publication of the first Local eGovernment Index (LEI) by the end of the year. The LEI index developed by NALED will be part of the new eGovernment Development Program until 2025 and will be used as an official indicator of the development level of electronic services in cities and municipalities. The Alliance will focus on supporting the completion of the Program, as well as the adoption of the missing regulations in the field of electronic services development, including the law that will define the concept of "smart" city development.

Priorities will also include the implementation of trainings to strengthen the capacity of public administration officials for the development and provision of electronic services, the strengthening of information security, as well as the support of line institutions in the improvement of services such as eSeal, signature in the cloud, eArchiving, etc.

The Alliance’s outgoing president and Director of OSA Computer Engineering Željko Tomić highlighted the key results in the previous period – along with the development of the LEI index, he stressed the Alliance’s support to the introduction of eInvoice system, the development of eGovernment Development Program in Serbia 2020-2022, the introduction of mandatory registration of companies on the eGovernment portal and the use of eMailbox, as well as the establishment of electronic payments and eDelivery. Together with the Office for IT and eGovernment, a project to popularize eServices was implemented, by opening counters in local governments where officials help all interested persons to become eCitizens.

The new leadership of the eGovernment Alliance

The members of the Alliance elected a new leadership. The President of this working body for the next two years will be Dragana Ilić, Corporate Affairs Director at CETIN, while Vice Presidents positions will be held by Ivan Živković, Head of Sales for the Public Sector at Microsoft, Dejan Turk, Director of A1 and Bojan Pokrajac, Director of Digital and Online Sales Channel in OTP Bank.