The system of electronic exchange of documents between state institutions is one of the greatest benefits for citizens and the economy, whereby progress has been established in providing services and simplifying administrative procedures, stated Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government Branko Ružić today at the presentation of report to SIGMA.
The Minister said that a good legal basis was established with the adoption of the Law on Administrative Procedure and the Law on e-Government, which is indicated by the level of satisfaction of natural and legal persons.
He added that more than 200 data sets filed by 40 institutions were published on the open data portal and that this legal framework was the basis for open data, which further enables development that should significantly reduce corruption, increase competitiveness and transparency.
“It is extremely important to invest in civil servants, as the bearers of public administration reform, which is why a system of competencies was introduced in order to make an adequate selection during employment, evaluate their work, but also provide them with career development”, said Minister Ružić.
He reminded that the National Academy of Public Administration was established as a central institution for professional development, and that it even involved employees at the local level.
“SIGMA’s report indicates that in this case, the values of indicators have improved in five of the seven indicators compared to the assessment from 2017, which indicates significant progress”, highlighted the minister.
He added that the Serbian-Korean Information Access Centre was declared the most successful centre of its kind in the world. “In the past two years, more than 20,000 civil servants and citizens have attended about 800 different programmes free of charge, many of which were digital projects of special importance for the improvement of public administration, such as: Address Register, eZup, digital platform for managing e-Inspectors”, indicated Minister Ružić.
According to him, it was extremely crucial to establish an information system for human resources management, which should significantly facilitate the work of employees in human resources units, as it would free them from currently established procedures that were complicated.
“We will also enable better mobility of staff through improved records of the internal labour market. I am certain that this shall significantly contribute to the improvement of the human resources management system in the public administration of the Republic of Serbia”, continued the minister. “Our intention is to dedicate ourselves to the professionalization of top-level officials with the assistance of the National Academy, Programme Council, SIGMA, and others. “Professional training programmes for managers shall help in the formation of a management structure, both for low and high-ranked managers, which shall improve the efficiency of the administration”, stated Minister Ružić.
He also announced the beginning of the process of drafting a new Public Administration Reform Strategy for the period 2021-2030.