Jovanović pointed out that the two institutions have had excellent cooperation so far, and expressed confidence that the cooperation will become even better now. He also thanked UNDP for its support to Serbia in all areas of digitalization.
“In the digitalization and development of the ICT sector, Serbia has recognized its chance to catch up and become one of the technological leaders in the region. Successfully implemented new eGovernment services for citizens, businesses and the state, adopted legislative and strategic frameworks, state institutions encouraged to open 500 data sets, 1,500 trained candidates in IT prequalification programs are some of the many results that citizens recognize”, said Jovanović.
The successful cooperation established between the Office for IT and eGovernment and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will continue to work towards establishment of a Regional Centre for the World Economic Forum, with a goal to create a legislative framework for the implementation of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, blockchain and IoT technologies, as well as smart cities.
Jovanović stressed the importance of UNDP’s support to the Office for IT and eGovernment, and that in the coming period the focus will be even more on the development of new eServices that will make it easier for citizens to communicate with the public administration, as well as on the development of creative industries, because we know how important it is for the development of the Serbian economy, as well as that the share of young people in that industry is over 60 percent.
“The Office for IT and eGovernment is our main partner in activities that contribute to digital transformation in Serbia. UNDP and the Office for IT and eGovernment work together to open up public institutions' data so that citizens and the IT community can use them to create new applications and development solutions through greater availability of quality data. In addition, we are working to create a digital future in Serbia through retraining for the IT sector and building data storage infrastructure in the state data centre”, Pickup said.
During the meeting, current project of great importance “Open Data - Open Opportunities” was discussed, supported by the World Bank and the UK’s Good Governance Fund (GGF), which has a clear objective to contribute to the establishment of an open data ecosystem in Serbia. The results achieved were also discussed, as well as plans for the “Digital Transformation in Serbia” project funded by the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the United Kingdom through the Good Governance Fund and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).