"Digitalization is one of the most effective tools for preventing corruption and strengthening transparency. Modern administration must view it as a fundamental mechanism for integrity, and not just a technical improvement," emphasized Deputy Minister for Digital Transformation Radoslav Nastasijević Vardziski at the Regional Forum: Promoting Integrity and Institutional Reforms in the Western Balkans, on the panel "Smart Governance: Using Digital Tools and Artificial Intelligence in the Fight Against Corruption".
He highlighted that institutions resisting digitalization raise legitimate concerns about their readiness to reduce discretionary power and expose their processes to public scrutiny.
Additionally, Vardziski informed that the new Law on Open Data and Reuse of Public Sector Data, which is in the development phase and has been posted on ENER, will enable of utilizing open data from the public sector in a modern and clearly defined way, for citizens, institutions, research organizations, journalists, the private sector and all other stakeholders. This provides conditions for greater transparency and additional opportunities for innovation.
"With an increased number of fully digital services for citizens and an electronic document management system (eDMS) for institutions, the human factor is reduced, there are no more queues, no more files in drawers - there is increased productivity, efficiency, and traceability of work. And through the interoperability platform, we provide infrastructure for reliable and fast data exchange, a key factor in the fight against corruption in the direction of prevention, detection and digital evidence." he added.
The panel also featured Yll Buleshkaj – Director of the Kosovo Anti-Corruption Agency, Serhii Hupiak – Deputy Head of the National Anti-Corruption Agency of Ukraine, Marie Mallard – Senior Expert on Compliance and Regulatory Affairs at the French Anti-Corruption Agency, Robert Scot Heaslet – Senior Resident Director of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and Blagoja Pandovski – President of Transparency International in the country.
