The digital summit of the Western Balkans was held in Pristina on Wednesday. Present at the summit, the Deputy Prime Minister, at the same time Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku expressed the commitment of the Albanian government to work together in the digital transformation of economies.

"Technology and digitization offer and deliver value in all sectors, in all aspects of our daily and work lives. This is the reason why it is important to continue with the new advances and of course as the Government to accommodate them, not only in our work processes, but also to ensure the necessary legal and regulatory framework for their advancement," said Balluku.

In this context, Balluku said that Albania appreciates the launch of the regulatory dialogue between the European Union and the Western Balkans, focused on the effective transposition of the acquis and priority legislative reforms, in accordance with the objectives of digital and green transformation.

According to Balluku, the creation of a common digital market and expanded capacities of digital connection through optical fibers or advanced 5G technology, opens the door to a multitude of opportunities in other key sectors, such as energy, infrastructure or also education.

"The Government of Albania has long since launched a deep reform for digital transformation, starting from the services we offer to citizens and businesses, and work processes in the public administration. Today in Albania, over 1,200 public services are offered online. This is 95% of all services offered, excluding those for which physical presence is required for identification or security reasons," stated Balluku.

According to Balluku, the online services have reduced the interaction between citizens and public officials, eliminating the possibility of corruption in exchange for receiving services that citizens have the right to receive and public officials have the duty to guarantee, restoring the trust of our citizens in public institutions.

Further, Balluku stated that businesses benefit from a wide range of services including registration, permits, licenses, tax payments that are completely paperless.

"Foreign citizens can apply and receive their visa through the e-visa platform after having to visit a consulate. We have also digitized our internal processes, implementing software and databases that allow the public administration to interact remotely and exchange documents, which saves time and is more efficient and reliable than verbal exchanges, although it does not reduce the use of paper when photocopying large pages of documents. The digital revolution is a reality, but also a work in progress. Of course, the digitization of our systems, databases and critical infrastructure also has its disadvantages," Balluku underlined.

The Deputy Prime Minister also talked about Iran's recent cyber attacks on Albania.

"Unfortunately, our country has recently suffered a cyber attack, not by an individual or an ordinary hacker, but a coordinated and well-organized attack by another country. Of course, our response, with the great support of our strategic partners, has been immediate and complete, in order to reduce the damage of this attack, and also to increase the security of our digital system and our networks. I share this with you, as I strongly believe that this should serve as a moment of reflection on the work we have ahead of us to ensure the protection of our critical infrastructure, our systems, and the private and sensitive information of our citizens, and to stop cyber attacks in the future," said Balluku.

According to her, the Government of Albania remains committed to the development of a secure digital infrastructure, and to undertake activities to improve cyber security cooperation within the region by increasing the protection of critical infrastructure, cyber security capacities, regional cyber security awareness with focus on prevention and detection of cyber threats, as well as fast and effective recovery.