INTERVIEW
We’re Running A Marathon,
Not A Sprint
TAMARA SRZENTIĆ, Montenegrin Minister of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media A strategic imperative of the Government of Montenegro as a whole, and the Ministry of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media in particular, is the creation of an optimal and efficient public administration that will provide citizens and businesses with the best service, and we will achieve all of that through a reform in which the optimising of public administration and the digitalisation process unfold simultaneously
W
e want the processes of reforming public administration and digitalisation to be conducted carefully, accepted comprehensively and transparent, with respect paid to the principles of participation and inclusiveness, and to develop digital services harmonised with the highest standards of quality, focused on the needs of users. This is how Minister Srzentić summarises the goals of her Ministry at the start of
our conversation, before continuing: “In accordance with that, over previous months – in an extremely inclusive and open joint process with the private, civil and academic sectors, and international partners – our teams worked in parallel on numerous strategic documents, optimising the normative framework and process. As a result of that work, we now have the Public Administration Reform Strategy and the first Digital Transformation Strategy up for public debate
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and soon to be adopted by the Government of Montenegro.” Which services have so far proved to be the best response to the fight against red tape and the need to traipse from one counter to another? - As a good example of savings, I would mention several services that we developed in cooperation with partners and consider as representing a good response to the fight