Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Business Climate

Perception is not reality!

In a case study 5 blind people are asked to describe what they are touching while touching an elephant which they experience for the first time. They do not know what an elephant is and can only touch one part. So they start touching different parts of each one, someone touches the tail, someone the ear, someone the nose, another the last leg and the back. All five people give different definitions of what they are touching. Of course no one finds the elephant being talked about, and this is because they have a limited frame of information.

Today, people choose to believe that reality is what they perceive within the framework of the information they read, hear or even touch.

The perception of each of them is their reality, but it is certainly not the reality that is seen when you take a step back and see, listen and read more.

 

Today we are NOT gathered to change anyone’s perception. We have gathered to talk about reality. The reality is that regardless of what the eyes of the televisions, the reports of Albanians dressed in foreign costumes or the interest groups of the parties that represent certain interests, we are making progress in the fight against corruption.

We are not lying to ourselves, nor to each other, nor to the Albanians by saying that there is no more corruption in Albania, because there is, in some sectors and in some links.

What we choose to do, even today through this report, is to show our attitude as a government towards corruption and to present here to you and to all Albanians what has been done and what remains to be done.

In this mandate, we focus on digitization not as an end in itself, but as a means to win this battle by simplifying the lives of citizens in receiving public services every day regardless of location, age or sector.

A few years ago there were few who believed in the Digital Revolution and many others, including me, were skeptical. Despite the challenges and difficulties faced by the Government and all of Albania, efforts in recent years have been focused on the widespread provision of electronic systems to facilitate the processing, transmission and exchange of information in the public sector.

On the initiative of the Prime Minister, the work of the Inter-institutional Group, chaired by the Minister of State for the Protection of Entrepreneurship, as well as the Inter-institutional Technical Group, chaired by the General Director of the anti-corruption structure at the Ministry of Justice, began. Contributors to this report are a number of institutions which, during these three days, will present the impact of digitization in a more sectoral manner.

The national anti-corruption report is expected to be published annually, thus providing the public with official, transparent and easily verifiable information. Researchers, organizations and most importantly citizens who wish to take a step back and see from a broader framework – now they can.

This first report consists of the analysis of the digitization of systems in the public sector. By 2021, around 95% of public services could be accessed online by individuals and businesses.

According to the OECD\SIGMA report of March 2022, Albania was ranked first among the countries of the Western Balkans, in terms of digital transformation, the provision of public administrative services as well as the good governance of the country.

The financial sector has been transformed thanks to digitalization. Facilitation of business has started since the beginning of 2015, with the automation of IT processes that were previously carried out manually by tax inspectors. Now it is the business itself that makes them in the system from its office or through the e-albania portal, completely avoiding the need to appear at state counters for certifications or documents, reducing time, business costs and eliminating the possibility of corruption by physical contact.

The year 2021 brought the major reform of “Fiscalization” which aims to digitize the invoicing system enabling the monitoring of transactions from the office and no longer in the field, increasing transparency and accountability.

The customs system has also had a very positive approach to digitalization, economic operators until the end of 2021 benefited from 34 out of 41 customs services electronically, and on March 30, it was possible to introduce 4 new online services.

As for the Public Procurement sector, this sector operates only through the SPE Electronic Procurement system, giving access to any interested party free of charge and at any time to transparently track procurement procedures. The transition from hand-delivered envelopes to an electronic system certainly brought about a reduction in cases of abuse.

As the last link to close the cycle of an entirely online service, the Public Procurement Commission also digitized the complaints management system (e-Complaints), which is fully operational since October 2021.

We have touched every key sector with the digital revolution, but the title ‘Success story in digitization’ belongs to the General Directorate of Road Transport Services, which from 4 online services offered in 2018, today offers 77 online services for citizens and entities . It is still not far enough in the memory of the chaos in this institution that the chances of getting work done without paying someone were slim. We have not yet forgotten the time lost in queues that were more like rallies, but this memory serves us to make the comparison and move forward with absolute conviction that digitization is the only way.

In 2021 alone, more than 1.5 million citizens and businesses received service from this directory through the e-Albania portal. This digital revolution, for the year 2021 compared to 2018, has saved citizens 16.2 million Euros and an average of 687,000 km of roads, 48,090 liters of fuel and 1,145 working days.

We have fully embraced the task of building democratic institutions, strengthening the rule of law and building a state administration untouched by corruption. This is today’s Albania and the vision for 2029.

This report is for those who like me, those who do not continue to describe the tail, ear, nose, leg and back of the elephant.

Thank you,