E-Gov program open for the private sector

The private sector needs to use the opportunities enabled by data opening by the institutions and to design new applications and services with which a new business model will be introduced, whereas the economy will have a new added value, urged Minister of Information Society and Administration Ivo Ivanovski on Thursday.

Speaking at a two-day conference held in Skopje on the e-Government program, Ivanovski said that last week the procurement of an open data system was concluded. Initially, five institutions will connect to make their digital data available to the companies 24 hours a day.

"This means that the firms will be allowed to access these systems and to design mobile and web applications and any other services for the citizens," the minister noted.

Despite appealing the private sector for three years to submit applications for interest into public-private partnership, not one offer has been filed so far, according to Ivanovski. If companies are interested to invest, the services - which cannot be offered electronically by the institutions to the citizens - will be offered by the private stakeholder with an adequate business model through private partnership.

"Still, I am convinced that the private sector has the capacity to be included in all the activities, however it is necessary to change the business model and the attitude of Macedonia's private sector from the past," Ivanovski stated.

The eGov program is a concept introducing a major reform in the administration by using information and communication technologies. Its objective is to provide better administrative services and to meet the needs of the citizens and businesses.

Several projects in this field have been implemented in Macedonia recently, including the interoperability system, document management system, a number of electronic services available to the citizens and companies, such as e-taxes, electronic public procurements, electronic company registration, etc.

The conference e-Government is organized by the Chamber of Commerce for Information and Communication Technologies (MASIT) in cooperation with the Ministry of Information Society and Administration, the French embassy in Macedonia, the agency for international technical cooperation of the French ministries (ADETEF) and the French agency for export promotion (UBIFRANCE).