UNDP supports ‘digital Albania’

TIRANA, May 14 – The Albanian Minister for Information, Communications Technology and Innovation Genc Pollo and United Nations Resident Coordinator Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun signed last week Friday a project that will support Albania’s National Digital Agenda.
The project foresees technical assistance to create a complete legal framework, strengthening the public and private partnerships in this regard as well as the application of the most advanced standards in the area of Information and Communication Technology.
UNDP’s technical support will also go towards the establishment of a national broadband network which will contribute to the improvement of Albania’s competitiveness and transparency
“The Albanian Government has made ICT development as one of its top priorities and introduced the “Digital Albania” initiative which calls for an acceleration of ICT penetration and use in governance processes in Albania. Achieving the objectives of “Digital Albania” will require infrastructure investment, institutional reforms, legislative improvements, capacity building and effective implementation of these policies,” said Pollo.
The project supports improving the legal and technical foundations for IT infrastructure. It will provide direct support to Pollo’s institution to better manage the national information society agenda, including technical assistance to create a complete legal framework, strengthening the public and private partnerships in this regard as well as the application of the most advanced standards in the area of Information and Communication Technology.
“This new project will support the institution of the Minister of Innovation and ICT to advance the reforms required in the ICT sector; it will support the National Agency for Information Society and other government institutions to introduce and apply more and more electronic services for citizens. This system will provide the country with a networking platform which will help Albanians become active players in knowledge based society and will help the country develop a knowledge based economy,” said Touimi-Benjelloun.
UNDP’s technical support will also go towards the establishment of a national broadband network which will contribute to the improvement of Albania’s competitiveness and transparency. The project will also increase the provision of e-services, and promote new technologies that make local and national systems more transparent and accessible by the public. Support in this regard will go towards the line ministries and local government bodies to increase the number of online services for the citizens to ensure qualitative delivery of public services.
This project is part of the One UN programme in Albania, financed through the United Nations Coherence Fund.